Wish Power

Fuck! How did you follow me here?!

Morian raised a hand and touched the mask on his face.

He had just concluded that items could not be synchronized between both sides...

Uh...

Come to think of it, he was not entirely sure whether this counted as an item.

What if it was a "blessing"?

The Mask of Joy was probably a reward from the Aeon of [Joy].

Morian did not know what he had done to please Aha, the god of mischief, but at that moment, Aha had indeed rewarded him with a mask.

Come to think of it, hadn't Aha gone to tease a dog, gotten bitten, and caught rabies? Did Aha really have the spare time to bless a transmigrator?

Now that he thought about it, he really had no idea what point in the timeline the Honkai: Star Rail side was at.

Tris merely glanced at him before quickly looking away, paying little attention to Morian.

He seemed to sincerely believe there was nothing strange about a man in bizarre clothes wearing a mask.

His subconscious directly ignored Morian's abnormality.

Seeing this, Morian casually shifted his posture, sitting cross-legged on the floor with one hand propped against his knee and the other supporting the mask on his face.

He silently pondered.

Now, he probably counted as one of the brood mothers of the "Morian" species.

It sounded a little strange, but [Propagation] did not care about gender. Once one's strength and status reached the required level, and one could divide, one was a brood mother.

He had also realized that his self in the Honkai: Star Rail world had survived purely because of a reward from the god of mischief.

And the reason his self in the Lord of Mysteries world had not been discovered by the Outer Deities because of the things in his mind was most likely the mask as well.

He did not know whether Aha had taken an interest in his identity as an outsider, found it amusing that he was human yet had become a brood mother, or wanted to use him to watch the fun in other worlds.

In any case, no matter the reason, he would accept this benefit.

As for whether he would give Aha something entertaining enough in return...

Accepting a gift didn't mean accepting the offer.

That settled the equation instantly.

He was now a genuine "brood mother," a top-tier existence in this version.

Unreasonable?

So what?

Still, while that was important, what mattered more was figuring out how to save his other self.

[Propagation] + [Joy].

Who knew whether his self in the Honkai: Star Rail world would one day split himself apart.

Though that would not necessarily be a bad thing.

Morian lightly tapped his fingers against the mask.

For Beyonders of the Lord of Mysteries world, physically traveling across the universe was still far too difficult.

Most demigods could not accomplish that. One of the few viable options was an "Apprentice" Wanderer.

But Wanderers relied on the spirit world, and it was hard to say whether the other side even had such a thing.

Still, it was not as though there was no way to help his other self out of trouble at the demigod stage.

A Secrets Supplicant.

A Secrets Supplicant who could briefly become a half-human, half-data lifeform starting at Sequence 4.

He already had a vehicle waiting for him; he simply lacked the authority to use it.

Then what if he became a data lifeform?

Combined with [Propagation] and [Joy], if he became a worm of data and a ghost of ether, he should be able to easily alter the ship's permissions.

But reaching demigod would still take a long time...

Still, this was the only way.

While Morian had been lost in thought, Tris had already whipped the atmosphere inside the cabin to its peak.

Outside the cabin were vicious men who had seized the ship and killed people; inside were ordinary crewmen unwilling to become beasts.

One after another, they picked up weapons—kitchen knives handed out to them or wooden clubs torn from chairs.

"Friends, three days have passed. Their food should be nearly gone by now."

"It's time for us to counterattack!"

Tris raised his hand and shouted encouragingly.

"Counterattack!" The crewmen raised their hands with all their strength and roared.

By coincidence, a bolt of lightning struck from the sky at that moment, followed by a clap of thunder.

Though they could not see the lightning from the lower deck, the thunder complemented Tris's speech surprisingly well.

Morian also raised his hand in cooperation.

But he quickly realized that he did not actually know Loenese.

He could understand it, but he could not speak it.

So he mumbled out a few similar sounds before lowering his hand.

Suddenly, he noticed that something was slightly off.

Once he realized he was wearing the Mask of [Joy], faint colored vapor appeared before his eyes.

But describing it that way felt a little undignified, so he preferred to think of it as some kind of "aura."

It drifted from people's bodies and dispersed through the air.

Morian could actively choose whether to see it, and it did not obstruct his vision.

"What is this...?"

After thinking for a moment, he raised his right hand, which was covered in fluorescent patterns, and made a grasping motion through the air.

He caught it, though there was no real sensation. It truly felt like trying to grab a handful of steam.

A sudden understanding came over Morian, and without being taught, he knew the name of these auras.

"Oh... it's wish power."

This was wish power—wishes, emotions.

Morian did not know how these things were produced, but for now, they seemed to be a product of the [Joy] Path.

I want to live... I want to leave this place...

That was the wish power produced by the crewmen inside the cabin.

I want pleasure... I want to indulge the malice in human nature without restraint...

That was the wish power produced by the thugs outside the cabin.

I want to live... I want to do whatever I please... I'm so hungry... Kill them... I'll stop at nothing...

Morian stretched out his hand and grasped at the air, feeling himself seize more and more wish power.

The mask on his face unknowingly lit up with a faint colored glow. In the next instant, the wish power scattered through the air converged toward Morian's palm.

This was all the wish power that had filled the ship over the past week since the riot began.

Drawn in by the mask, it had not dissipated. Now that Morian had finally come into contact with the mask's power, it gathered in his hand before rapidly merging into his body.

Morian's mood became more joyful at that moment.

No, it was not merely joy.

At that moment, Morian felt like he was the happiest person in the world.

The corners of his mouth rose unconsciously as he felt delight welling up from the bottom of his heart.

"Hehe~."

Feeling the ship rise and fall beneath him, he sensed that a torrential rain might come soon.

After all, the waves were becoming absurdly large, and he could hear the wind outside even through the walls.

At the same time, Tris's speech was reaching its conclusion.

Everyone's emotions had been stirred to their peak. As an experienced "Instigator," he immediately seized this opportunity.

"Everyone!" he shouted with all his strength. "If you want to live, then follow me and kill our way out!"

As Tris shouted his slogan, the wish power on the crewmen grew denser and clearer.

Inside the cabin, the scattered wish power was tinged with a hint of red.

Morian remained seated where he was and did not join their chants.

But he held out his hand, constantly feeling the wish power drawn by the mask gather around him and flow into his body.

"Ah..." he let out a faint sound.

This was a comfort he had never experienced before.

Add Bookmark

Return to Contents