[Psychokinetic] Eyeball Pulling - Chapter 74 (Patreon)

Somewhere on the Great Oceans of Ruitera.

A speedster boat flitted across the rough ocean waves with dexterous ease. The front of the boat was split with two appendages on either side that seemed to split the water in two. It even had two smaller boats that were welded onto the side with an arm that attached them to the main vessel. it looked to stabilise it, causing it to be able to travel faster than normal.

Stuart glanced at the bow of the boat. A tall and slender man stood despite the harsh waves battering the speeding boat. His long red, shoulder length hair flapped against the wind. He wore a long jacket that passed his knees and one hand rested on a curved blade. The other was hidden under the long sleeve as the rest of the material loosely hung. A black mask with glowing white teeth adorned to the front was glued to his face.

“I hear this is going to be a big haul,”  Stuart said, picking out a piece of dried meat from in between his teeth with a toothpick. He wore a peaked cap, he had to hold it with one hand so that it didn’t disappear from the buffeting wind.

He was well and truly a newbie within the Prince’s team. He had heard a lot of them were wiped out during a bubbled expedition, and it wasn’t any normal one. But a Bubbled City. They had scouted it for years, yet they were all killed, apart from the Prince.

Thinking of the Prince, he had heard many tales about him, but coming from a small surviving Wayfarer colony, they were all but myths. He knew he was a talented young man in his late twenties, thirties at most and that his talent was shocking. Mostly attributed to his rare classes, Stuart thought.

Even from a young age, he took command of multiple pirate voyages on the great oceans, only ever coming back with light wounds and plenty of freshly plundered equipment along with them.

Stuart didn’t necessarily agree with the methods, but it was hard enough to feed oneself. Finding food in the Ocean’s or Bubbles always came at a risk of death after all. It took only a whiff of blood in the waters for strong ocean beasts to skulk towards them with a promise of a meal. Depending on the size of them, it would only be a snack. However, even small snacks became banquets in high quantities.

“If the Forschythes are known for anything, it’s giving their offspring some damn fine equipment.” Horace said.

The coarse hairs on his face almost looked like thick bristles as he scratched them with anticipation.

“Still surprised that Prince suggested we go so close to Rebirth,” Stuart said. “One small mistake and we’re done for. And you’ve heard of the report of that Sinwen youngling miss. I heard she can already fight against those at level one-hundred.”

“The auction report?” Horace said.

“That’s the one,” Stuart continued. “I mean shit, what the hell is that progression? Even our very own Prince of the Devil Ocean can’t compete against that.” He glanced over at the man that stood at the boat’s bow.

“I heard that the only reason she could do that was because of a suicide Skill,” Horace grimaced. “If there was one person to have it, it would be a damned Sinwen, wouldn’t it?”

“Battle crazed psycho’s, the lot of them.”

“Then what would that make us?” Horace gripped onto a nearby handle as the boat crashed against a wave.

“That’s different, they have all the food and safety they need within those high walls–”

Stuart’s mouth was suddenly clasped by the long coated man. His face was void of emotion.

“Save me from your pathetic indignation,” Prince said and let go of Stuart’s mouth. “It’s unbecoming of one of my men. I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about me, it looks like I’ve turned lax in my older age.”

A grin crept up from the corner of his lips. “So I’ll only take a finger.” Prince yanked Stuart’s arm and placed it on a wooden block in the middle of the boat.

“Wait, wh–why?” Stuart stumbled.

“There’s nothing that pisses me off more than having a bumbling idiot that questions their own motives for surviving.” Prince unsheathed his sword. “If you can’t find your own resolution for living, then I’ll give you one.”

Prince raised his sword. “Well, I’m afraid I’m taking one away, amn’t I?” A shrill laugh left his throat as he swung down.

***

Level 56 - Voidling Insectoid: A monster created from the vast void. Voidlings have an insatiable hunger that can not be quelled. It relies upon its extreme speed to cleave its enemies with its scythe-like arms and the spiked tongue within its maw.

As she watched the mindless beasts rip each other apart, she downed a bottle of health potion. The rancid taste almost made her gag as she forced it down into her stomach. It created a boiling heat that filled her insides with renewed strength, the wound already scabbing over.

While they were fighting, Astrid quickly blasted out large pits that surrounded her in all directions. Then she sprinted around the pits and covered it with an illusion. By the time she was halfway finished, there was only one survivor amongst the monsters.

Astrid had racked her mind to figure out how to kill the monsters with only her illusions. But then it was obvious. Mind Domain was an illusion Skill. That meant anything done within the Domain would be counted as an illusion kill. 

The Voidling didn’t pant for breath, seemingly not having any lungs. Its beastly eyes moved to her fleshy body. With no thoughts but the insatiable hunger within its stomach, it rushed towards her in a mad dash.

Astrid stood with her arms crossed and her defences at the ready, just in case it decided to use that damned tongue. It reached her in a second, then dropped down into the pit. It tried to scrape against the walls, but its scythe-like arms couldn’t get any purchase. The sheer sharpness of them worked against the monster.

It stabbed the blade into the walls, but because they were so sharp, they simply glided through it.

Astrid sighed and willed her psychic mana to the monster's mind and activated her Mind Domain Skill. For this monster, creating an environment was a waste of time. She created a shroud around her body, so that the only thing the monster could see was a vast nothingness.

Its head swirled and began scraping at the walls, but it couldn’t feel anything. Its mind was being dominated by Astrid’s psychic mana. Instead of using [Crash] to instantly kill it, she needed practice with her Domain.

She would just make the monster do the work. If it wanted to eat, then she would make that a reality.

A cute little bunny flashed into existence. The voidling salivated at the sight and bolted forward. Just as it was about to devour the small creature, the monster’s maw was forced open and the bunny crawled in.

Astrid doubted a real life animal could live within its powerful stomach acid, but this wasn’t real–only the feeling was. It thumped within its stomach, but the creature couldn’t feel any satisfaction from having its stomach full.

Maybe because it didn't eat it properly? Astrid attempted to read its thoughts, but it was just as she had guessed. It thought nothing but its desire to eat.

Feeling the much alive rabbit within its stomach, it raised its scythe’s and swiped at its stomach. Each swipe gouged into its body, but it didn't stop despite the pain. It continued until all that was left was mangled flesh and seeping, fluorescent green stomach acid.

It resisted the overwhelming sensation of death for only a moment before its body collapsed onto the floor, and the illusion world along with it.

Astrid returned back to the land of the… living. Instead of the smell of blood, it was more like a reminder of the swamp. The smell of the acid burning was bitter and with it burning the strange soil underneath it emitted an earthy stench.

You have levelled up!
…

Psychokinetic level 68 -> Psychokinetic level 69

Illusionist level 68 -> Illusionist level 69

Gained 10 stat points.


You now have 400 intelligence.


Skill level up!

Mind Domain level 4 -> Mind Domain level 6

Minor Illusion level 9 -> Minor Illusion level 10 [ Max ]

Experience gained!

Minor Illusion has reached max level!

Conditions met for Minor Illusion Stage 2.

Minor Illusion level 10 [ Max ] -> Major image level 1

Common - Active Skill - Minor illusion: Create a minor illusion with your Psychic energy. Please note enemies with high intelligence or wisdom can see through illusions. [ Stage 1 ]
| [ Stage 2 ] Rare - Major image: Thanks to your experience and hard work with the experimentation of Minor Illusion, you can now create life-like illusions. Footsteps, breath, and emotions are just the beginning. Once interacted with, the illusion will shatter. Illusions such as mist will remain.

Astrid nodded at the change, she tried it out as the words confused her. She had already learnt how to create footsteps, although admittedly it was extremely hard to do consistently and with enough accuracy to be deemed of use most of the time.

She created the same image of the voidling before and the accuracy of it shocked her. Previously impossible small details like saliva dripping from its mouth and the bloodthirsty nature were now clearly visible.

She willed it to move, and without having to control the matter at its feet to create sound, it was already there. All she had to do was create the image within her mind and the picture came to life in front of her.

With the upgraded skill, she had no doubt that it would be far easier to fool even more intelligent beings. And with her intelligence now reaching four-hundred, it filled her with more confidence for the future.

She wondered what the Legendary class would involve, before shaking the thought from her head. It was something she would find out when the time came, for now, she needed to survive this… place.

With the monsters defeated, she scouted the area, only to find it bear. With the traits of the Voidlings, it meant that they were perhaps at a location with more food. She glanced at the surroundings, there was no water or even any plants that were worth eating. The entire area was void of anything alive.

It was lucky that she had taken a large amount of rations from Leena’s pack. It would last her a good while within this place, but she needed to find a source of food to alleviate it as much as possible. After all, she didn’t know how long she would be here. There was no time limit, or even a mission objective or the likes.

Shelter, food, water, exploration of this land of nothing. Got it. Sighing, Astrid set out for a place to call a temporary home. If it existed.