Chapter 185 Synergy of Minds

The usual thing that happened to all of Greed's targets happened with the captured Symbolist.

Greed opened his mouth wide, engulfing the captured Symbolist's body with gusto.

The Abyss Sprite only needed a few seconds to process whatever was inside that Symbolist before he spat him out, along with a blue-colored flesh ball.

"Master!" As Greed spat out the flesh ball, he gave Alex an excited look, as if he just did something awesome. "Because of the enhancement in this world, the power of my Pillaging was also enhanced! The power that I Pillaged from this guy was at its full power!"

"Now we're talking." Alex replied happily as he patted Greed's head. "Are you sure you got his full power?"

"Yes, Master!" Greed replied with certainty. "Besides, I can also sense that this guy has not reached yet the peak of being a Symbolist. If I use my Pillage on really powerful Symbolists, I think I will only be able to get a portion of their power. But this guy is not a really powerful Symbolist, so I got all of his power!"

"I do not know if I should be comforted by thought or not." Alex muttered to himself as he picked up the blue flesh ball.

"…" As Alex took hold of the blue flesh ball, he could not help but notice that the blue flesh ball looked like a miniature version of the Blue Moon above him.

"Uh… should I really eat this?" Alex muttered to himself as he looked at the blue flesh ball with trepidation. "Wait, what am I worried about? If this turns out to be bad, I can just ask Greed to remove it from me!"

With that consoling thought in his mind, Alex's suppressed his worries as he swallowed the blue flesh ball whole.

"…"

At the instant that the flesh ball was processed by his body, Alex felt something momentous happening inside his body.

"Kacha!"

Alex felt some kind of shackles bursting inside his mind, as if his whole mind just reached a higher level.

He started to wobble as he felt some kind of energy pervading his mind, strengthening and even fortifying it at every second.

As Alex started to see that his mind was becoming more and more resilient, he smiled a little, knowing that his mind was undergoing a full metamorphosis now.

"So the mind really is the source of power for the Symbolists…" Alex muttered to himself as his perception started to speed up. "No wonder they can resist my mental attacks…"

At that time, Alex thought that this was the only benefit that he can get from Pillaging the Symbolist's power.

But he immediately realized that he was wrong, as something unexpected happened to him next.

"What!" To Alex's surprise, just a minute after he ate the flesh ball, he felt his Mental Power reacting to the Symbolist Power that he just ate!

Alex observed with wide eyes as he saw his Mental Power, which was the reservoir for Esper Abilities, react visibly to his Symbolist Power!

Alex's whole body trembled as his Mental Power started to increase even without him meditating to increase them!

960 meters, 970 meters, 980 meters, 990 meters….

As his Mental Power increased, Alex's Esper Ranger also increased, with it slowly but surely reaching the 1 Kilometer mark!

999 meters….

As Alex saw his Mental Power reaching the peak that a Tier Esper can reach, he thought that it will already stop there.

But after another minute of waiting, Alex felt something shattering inside his mind.

This time, the one that got shattered was the boundary between a Tier Esper and a Star Espser!

"I… I f**king did it!" Alex shouted out to himself as he felt his Range reaching the hallmark 1 Kilometer. "I'mma f**king Star Esper now!"

"What the?" The one who uttered these words was Asteria, who looked extremely surprised with what just happened to Alex.

The same surprise could be also seen on Alina and Queen Mother, as both of them felt the change in Alex's Esper power.

"Alex.. are you a Star Esper now?" Alina asked with a slight tremble in her voice. "You were able to reach that state?"

"Yes, Alina. I'm a motherfugging Star Epser now!" Alex replied with a laugh as he placed his hands on his hips. "Hahaha! Aren't I awesome?"

"Yes, yes, you're awesome." Alina replied as she gave Alex a genuine congratulatory smile. After seeing her smile, Alex could not help but smile back, as he felt satisfied seeing Alina's happiness for him.

"I thought you will still take a year before you can become a Star Esper. Who would have thought…"

"Yeah, I'm definitely surprised with what happened here." Alex replied as he nodded his head. "I think the only thing that can explain what happened here was the power that I Pillaged right now."

"So you're saying that the power of the Symbolists has a good synergy with our Mental Power?" Alina directly said as she stared at the captured Symbolists. "That's the conclusion that you reached?"

"Well, that is the most likely reason here." Alex replied as he patted Greed's head once more. "Maybe it's because both the Symbolists and the Espers rely on their mind power to use their abilities. Well, the Espers use their mind power in a scientific way, while the Symbolists use their mind power in a mystical way…."

"But since they share the same root, which is the mind, something will really happen if those two powers were to interact directly with each other." Alina was the one who concluded Alex's sentences as she prodded one of the captured Symbolists with her foot.

"That is what I am thinking too." Alex said as he let out a shrug. "But I thought that with the suppression of this world on Esper Abilities, my Mental Power won't interact with something from this world. Fortunately, it seems like I am mistaken with that regard. However, that gives me another question."

"If the Esper Abilities mesh well with the Symbolists, then why is it suppressed in this world?" Alina was the one who uttered this question as she tilted her head.

"Exactly. Why would a suppression happen, when the said ability meshes well with a local ability here? That is just confusing…" Alex said with exasperation as he let out a sigh.

Alina also let out her own sigh too, as she seemed to understand the confusion that Alex has right now.

"For now, I don't think we will know the answer for that." Alina replied as she started to polish her katana. "However, I'm sure that with a little experimentation, we can device a conclusion on everything that we have seen here."

"Yay, experiments…" Alex muttered to himself glumly as he stared at the skill list of Greed. "How great…."

[Grade 1 Slot] -------- Symbol-Based Reality Manipulation(Heaven Tier)

[Grade 2 Slot] -------- Empty Slot. Needs to Pillage Power

[Grade 3 Slot] -------- Empty Slot. Needs to Pillage Power

[Grade 4 Slot] -------- Empty Slot. Needs to Pillage Power

[Grade 5 Slot] -------- Empty Slot. Needs to Pillage Power

[Grade 6 Slot] -------- Empty Slot. Needs to Pillage Power

[Grade 7 Slot] -------- Needs Grade 7 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 8 Slot] -------- Needs Grade 8 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 9 Slot] -------- Needs Grade 9 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 10 Slot] -------- Needs Grade 10 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 11 Slot] -------- Needs Grade 11 Abyss Energy to access.

[Grade 12 Slot] -------- Needs Grade 12 Abyss Energy to access.

"…."

Even if Alex was happy with what happened with his Esper Power, he still could not help but feel shivers as he looked at the power that he just got.

"Symbol-Based Reality Manipulation. Now this is an ominous-sounding power…" Alex muttered to himself as he took a deep breath. "If a power is named like this… then does that meant that the strongest of them can bend reality to their whim? Ugh… I hope our Main Mission won't force me to face monsters like them…"

Well, even if Alex wished for that to happen, he knew how bad his luck could be.

"Sigh…"

*************

5 minutes later.

"What should we do with the others that we captured?" Alina asked Alex after Alex finished doing what he did on the captured Symbolist. "Should we dump them away now?"

"No, not yet." Alex replied as he shook his head. His gaze then landed on the important-looking Symbolist as he said,

"Let me talk to this guy first. I'm rather curious… on what he thinks about us."

"Alex, are you sure that you should do that?" Alina cautiously asked Alex as she edged nearer to him.

"Don't worry, Alina." Alex replied confidently as he raised his chin. "I just Pillaged this guy's power, so even if he wanted to attack me, he won't be able to do it, since his power's mine now. And look at his body! Even a child can beat him up right now!"

"…Just be careful. You never know if they have some tricks hidden on their sleeves." Alina said as she pointed her sword at the Pillaged Symbolist. "Talk to him, and if I see any possibility of him damaging you, I will immediately cut him down."

"Hehe, watch him carefully then, Alina." Alex replied as he gave a nod to Queen Mother.

After seeing this signal from Alex, Queen Mother immediately deactivated the sleeping agents that she placed on the Pillaged Symbolist earlier.

The effect of what Queen Mother did was instantaneous.

"Arghh!!" The Pillaged Symbolist woke up with a shout, as he started brandishing his arms all around him.

He also kicked at the air, as if he was struggling to fight off an invisible enemy.

"Yo, calm down, I said calm down!" Alex shouted to the Symbolist as he gripped the Symbolist's neck tightly with his tentacle. The Symbolist immediately stopped shouting, as Alex's grip on his neck almost suffocated him. "There, at least you can keep your mouth shut."

"…" The Symbolist, whose neck was still held by Alex, glared at Alex intently.

"You dare strike an official like me? You don't know who you're dealing with!" Even if he was captured, the Symbolist still had the gall to look confident. "You think just because you captured me that you can already order me around? Hah! You underestimate me! Take this!"

The Symbolist then started to utter some ancient-sounding words which Alex obviously did not understand.

After saying these words, the Symbolist let out a hysterical laugh, as if he could already see Alex's demise.

But minutes passed by, and nothing happened.

"Huh? Are those magic words of yours supposed to do something?" Alex asked the Symbolist 'sincerely' as he tilted his head. "Come on, I'm still waiting.!"

"Wha- what the hell is happening here!" Needless to say, the Symbolist was extremely shocked with what just happened. "Why is my trump card not working?"

"Well, before you ask why your trump card is not working, maybe you should inspect your power first." Alex said as he gave the Symbolist a sneer. "Maybe that will explain why your 'trump card' did not work…"

Sure enough, the Symbolist followed what Alex said, and what happened after that was just like what Alex expected.

"Nooo!!!" The Symbolist let out a shout of despair that lasted for a whole minute, before his eyes rolled back on his head.

The Symbolist then fell to the ground, fully unconscious with his breathing erratic.

"Welp, you can't just sleep like that." Alex said as he slapped the Symbolist awake with his tentacles. "I still have to talk to you. If you want to sleep, just do it after we talk."

"Pa pa pa!"