Chapter 7: Articulated Ambitions
Shortly after entering the city, I began to explore minds. I did so cautiously, allowing myself to learn about the lives of various people throughout the city in a subtle, stealthy way.
I was interested in learning about the lives of people with magic, but I was more than willing to learn about all sorts of people. Thanks to my ability to do mental multitasking I could easily focus on dozens of people at a time, without it negatively affecting my ability to be present and paying attention to my surroundings.
I began with the people closest to the city's entrance for those approaching from the countryside as they were the people whose thoughts I could most clearly and keenly hear even without focusing on my telepathy. I heard their thoughts as easily and as readily as I could hear them and the various sounds they made, from the quiet ones like the beating of their hearts to the louder ones such as their conversations with friends and family.
As I listened to the thoughts of the people of the city of Jasper, as well as the sounds they audibly made, I quickly realized some rather surprising things. The first thing I realized was that a lot of people paid attention to rather superficial stuff. I realized this most especially when people saw me. I was a massive person, towering over anyone most of the people in the city had ever seen, and lots of people noticed me as I walked down the road that Lopez had told me to walk down so that I could reach the local office of the adventurers guild.
Not only did people notice me, but they were also evidently quite interested in me. I listened to their thoughts with mild amusement. Prior to today, I had only been an alright-looking man, and now... Now I was different.
I was extremely attractive to anyone who was attracted to masculinity and masculine bodies. The new me oozed sexuality, confidence, and pride, and that was something I could not shut off, thanks to my supernatural physique, charisma, and grace. People's eyes were drawn to me, and I had to learn how to get used to that.
I didn't let it show on my face or affect my walk, thanks in part to my supernatural charisma and my supernatural grace respectively, but a consequence of hearing thoughts was that I was able to hear what people were thinking of me. Someone could try to mask their gaze, but they couldn't hide their thoughts, not from me anyway. People felt safe in their minds, they felt like they could show their true selves without fear of judgment. And who knows? Perhaps around other people, they could have. But not around me. I saw them for who they truly were.
The second thing I realized was that the common people of Vanheim did not have a serious understanding of magic. For the average non-adventuring, and non-magic-using adult in Jasper, magic was something they had grown accustomed to and didn't think about terribly often. Magic was a normal part of daily life for the people of Vanheim, similar to how working in a field was a normal part of daily life in the countryside.
To be fair to the people of Jasper, this wasn't that odd. As a native of Vanheim, I knew that many of us owned cheap magical items such as magical clothing that adapted to our sizes, or arcane household items that made our lives a little easier such as rocks that warmed baths for us.
I made a living as an adventurer, someone whose career necessitated the usage of at least a little magic, and even I hadn't devoted tremendous thought to magic beyond the few cantrips I myself had been capable of using back when I believed I was a human. Though in my case that was because I tried to be a pragmatic sort who didn't have fanciful dreams, and so I had never fantasized about magic beyond my abilities.
There was, however, an odd calmness unique to the people of the port city of Jasper that I had never seen in my travels. I hadn't been able to notice or appreciate this calmness, as it wasn't something the city's people spoke about out loud until I had read the minds of several of the city's natives.
Many of the people in the city of Jasper were used to and unfazed by the arcane noises that came from the city's sole institution for learning about magic: the National Arcane Academy of Vanheim, which was located near the city's manor. The people of the city were used to the peculiarities of the city's locally taught magicians, and I had opted to come to Jasper as opposed to other cities because I had once heard from someone in the small town of my birth that this city was where magicians learned how to use magic.
As I read the minds of the city's inhabitants I quickly began to realize that this city had an abundance of strange devices which were evidently arcane technology that used magic to do remarkable things. The streets were lined with large metal poles that ended abruptly and apparently at night these poles were lit up with ambient magical energy, illuminating the city's streets without using fire, and many households possessed greater arcane items than I was used to since I was from a small town in the countryside.
Another thing I noticed was more about humans in general than about the people of the city of Jasper. Humans made a variety of noises that I no longer did. I could hear the sounds they made, some of which I used to make, constantly. Their footsteps produced noise, they had beating hearts that were audible to some of the animals around them, they breathed, and in general, they were quite loud. To the new and improved me that was a bit strange.
My ultra-human senses, combined with my mind's newfound sensitivity to my body, alerted me to the reality that I wasn't loud anymore. In fact, until I spoke I was silent. My heart didn't beat, I was supernaturally graceful which quieted my footsteps, and if I wanted too I could communicate without speaking to people. I quietly mulled this over in the back of my mind before opting to continue to repeat some of these actions, despite it being a superficial facade so that I could look "normal" to them. I was a true immortal and I didn't need to do what they did, but doing so wasn't a bad idea if I was going to walk among them while I learned more about magic.
As I continued to quietly scan the minds of various locals I allowed my mind to wander a bit.
I walked along a well-maintained cobblestone road surrounded by buildings and shops that catered to travelers. While I visually admired their goods I telepathically scanned the minds of people close to me, while quietly considering what questions I should ask the system next. It wouldn't make much sense for me to not take advantage of such a handy mechanism, especially since so far it had proven able and willing to answer any questions I had.
I was a curious sort, and since I was determined to overcome the "weaknesses" I had compared to other members of my kind I needed to be armed with knowledge. If I was going to find a way to maximize my own power and to stay safe in an omniverse where creatures like me were wanted by all sorts of powerful groups of beings I needed to understand myself and my surroundings. It only took me a moment to be able to figure out a good starting point for my next line of questions.
"Hey, what can you do? So far you've been able to provide me with knowledge and you created a 'safe zone for me to undergo my first metamorphosis. Can you do anything else?" I asked, internally, aiming my question at the system. I knew I didn't need to ask things aloud for them to be audible to the system. One of the text boxes in my mind's eye changed in response to my question.
[I cannot. I am one of the mechanisms by which the omniverse helps higher beings, such as gods and their kin, make sense of the omniverse. I am noticeably less necessary for some types of creatures, such as gods, than I am for beings such as yourself. Higher beings are creatures capable of alerting reality itself in direct ways, such as creating something from nothing without using magic.]
The system's answer helped me understand what it meant by "Higher being" which was a term I had never heard before it first appeared to me last night. As I read the text box, it began to change, words disappearing and being replaced almost as soon as I had finished reading them.
[Grand adonises are one of the kinds of creatures who possess what is known as 'System access' that tend to use it more than most, but you are an especially unusual grand adonis because you are by yourself. Normally even the weakest grand adonis has a grand venus companion to accompany and protect him, and for many of your kind that is enough. Since you are all alone, for now, using me regularly is a smart way to readily learn more about the omniverse and to come to understand your powers.]
I nodded, mentally, as I read the message. It was consistent with what I had learned about grand adonises and also made sense independently of that. While it was true that I was intimidatingly powerful, and from what I knew probably beyond the ability of most, if not all, things native to this world's ability to harm, I knew I wasn't the end-all, be-all of power. Surprisingly the contents of the text boxes in my mind's eye didn't change for a few moments until I wondered how other grand adonises behaved.
[Grand adonises, like many kinds of creatures, run the gamut as far as behavior and morality go. There are some grand adonises who are paragons of morality, who either only have sex with the grand venuses who awoke their inner sparks of divinity or allow people who have been fully informed and in some cases even trained into their beds. Some grand adonises desire pleasure but aren't selfish enough to try and forcibly take pleasure in any real capacity, such as by building an empire or a religion. Those kinds of grand adonises are less moral but they also tend to take their grand venuses and retire to personal dimensions where they privately immerse themselves in pleasure and lust for eternity.]
[Those are the best members of your kind as well as tolerable members of your race, respectively. There are evil grand adonises as well, ones who greedily seek to carve out empires that exist to empower them and to drown the omniverse in lust and pleasure forever. Those kinds of grand adonises are slowly being weeded out, but the powers wielded by members of your race are difficult to overcome and often require the direct intervention of other kinds of higher beings since grand adonises can brainwash people through pleasure.]
The system's message was surprising. I was both pleasantly surprised and concerned to see that my race had selfish, altruistic, and neutral individuals, instead of just being a one-note species in any direction, morally speaking. That strongly suggested that as corrupting as my powers could be, if I was careful with them and worked to master them, I could hone them and not lose myself while doing so.
For a moment I was lost in thought and consideration. When I drew myself back from that moment of contemplation I noticed that one of the text boxes had changed. I read it curiously, while a small part of my mind continued to scan memories and read minds.
[What are your ambitions? If you articulate them then I'll be better able to help steer you in the proper direction to eventually help you achieve them.]
While I finished reading the text box I continued to walk. I was now done with a good portion of the walk to the local office of the adventurer's guild. I considered the words in the text box, and for not the first time in my life wondered what sort of ambitions I should strive to achieve.
"I honestly don't know. During my travels, I have met people with a range of goals, and I have enjoyed learning about those goals. I have met more than a few people who want to become powerful adventures, skilled warriors, and rich business owners. If I opt to be brave and dream big for a moment I don't really see why I can't do all of that and more. These powers I possess allow me to have a chance to dream big, which was not something I was keen to do before I gained these abilities." I mentally whispered. I wasn't done mentally speaking to myself either.
"Beyond that, I could use these powers to help people. I'm not about to make big moves yet until I have a serious mastery of my abilities, but there's a lot I can do with these powers to make life better for people. I'd like to master my powers and find ways to use them that help people live better and happier lives." I whispered, in the privacy of my own mind.
Unlike many other people, I actually knew that my mind was private since my super-intellect informed me that my telepathic abilities, coupled with my immunity to many kinds of divine and magical abilities, protected me from unwanted mental prying by strangers. For a moment my thoughts were well and truly my own and during that moment I realized that there was a goal I could really enjoy working towards.
"The goals and ambitions I articulated earlier were not really my own. They were ambitions that others had that I will pursue, but you asked me to articulate my own ambitions. I... I want to become a powerful healer. One as powerful as I can become. I want to become a healer so skilled that I can heal and any all unwanted pain." I told the system, before beginning to smile gently.
Articulating that last ambition made me feel a sort of excitement that I hadn't felt when I articulated the other ambitions I had considered and told the system about. I watched as the two text boxes changed, and my smile widened as I read their contents.
[You want to become a skilled healer? That is a very achievable, and surprisingly noble goal for a grand adonis. And you are not just a grand adonis. You are so much more than just a single kind of creature. You are a reality-reshaper. Your powers will grow in strength and potency over time, provided you do not meet an early, and untimely demise, until you can affect entire pleniverses at once.]
[While it is true that you can become an immensely, impossibly skilled healer with your powers you should know that the key to doing so before eons pass is for you to use all of your abilities. You can tremendously speed up the rate at which your powers grow in potency if you embrace your nature as a grand adonis and do what many grand adonises do: build a vast harem and grow powerful through pleasure. Embracing pleasure is the surest, most reliable pathway to power for your kind, and accepting that and using it is a way for you to protect yourself and others.]
Had I had a beating heart it would have hammered in my chest when I learned that I could become a powerful and skilled healer as a grand adonis. The knowledge that this power really could be used for goodness and to bring joy filled me with hope, even while I read the second message the system communicated to me.
"If that is the key to advancing my powers quickly... When the time comes to build a 'harem', beyond the bevy of beauties I can summon using 'Seduce the world', I may make the choice to fully inform any potential harem member of my supernatural powers and allow them to make an informed, conscious choice. If they accept me for who I am and still want to have sex with me, thus joining this... 'harem', then I'll happily embrace them. Until then I suppose I should just stick to summoning spirits and using them as sexual partners, shouldn't I?" I asked the system, curiously.
[Your choice to continue to use "Seduce the world" is a smart one. You gain power from all sex you have, provided your partners are adults and consensual, and the spirits that appear when "Seduce the world" is used are adult spirits who are very desirous of you. Sex with them empowers you just like sex with adult humans, orcs, elves, gods, and so on and so forth would. That said, you ought to know that for your full power to truly manifest you need to have sex with a living person or some sort of divinity.]
[There are powers of yours that are only consciously usable once you've had sex with someone, a real, fully living person whose existence was not dependent on you using your powers to call them into being. One of these powers, the "Seraglio" power, is a powerful one that grants you a dimensional home that you and harem members you select can always access that has room for a vast number of harem members who wish to live in luxury, unbothered by the terrors and ills of the outside world. That power is one worth fighting for, as once you have it you can always opt to retire to your seraglio and live in luxury forever with your harem. But remember, to be able to access it it is necessary for you to have sex with a fully living, independent being, not one of your creations.]
I chuckled as I read the system's newest messages to me. As I did I reached the adventurer's guild. As I walked towards it I noticed that the building which housed the local branch of the guild had a large sign over the door which depicted a stylized drawing of a shield, on top of which were a sword and a wand. It was a well-done drawing and did a good job of providing the local branch of the guild with a specific aesthetic.
I opened the door into the building, just in time to watch the receptionist I had listened to earlier begin to stare, dumb-founded, at another adventurer. The other adventurer she was staring at was laying on the floor near a door that served as both another entrance and exit, on the other side of the first floor of the building. I studied the adventurer and sighed internally as I did. His face was swelling up horribly and his neck was covered in disgusting-looking purple lumps.
"Well... I did say I wanted to be a healer. I suppose this is just the universe giving me a chance to establish that reputation early..." I muttered, even as I stepped past the door, and began to stride towards the poisoned adventurer. As I moved towards him I reached into one of the pockets on my shirt and instead of drawing something out of the strange extradimensional storage my adventurer's gear provided me, I quietly created an antidote to simple animal poisons and with a flourish that tricked the few people who had turned to face me as I walked towards the adventurer, I produced the small vial containing the green fluid needed to save the adventurer's life.
"Looks like I arrived just in time!" I said, taking advantage of this moment to make an entrance.
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