Mirror World Thievery

Thinking about how tired he was from just that short bout, Magnus realised something. He raised his hand.

"I wonder... should I have done this since the start?" He thought aloud.

His open palm then slammed downwards together with the full force of half of Magnus' remaining Spirit Energy.

The earth above the monsters' heads collapsed in an overbearing manner that sought their lives.

CRIIIIIIIEEEEE!

The sad cries of these monsters rang in Magnus' ears, but all he basked in was the glory of victory. His enemies had literally been crushed. No questions asked.

Pillars of earth doomed these monsters into a grave that was much grander than they would've ever had.

Magnus then glanced at the monster still skewered to his sword. He noticed its weakness and the terror in his eyes.

A fireball swiftly sent it to its screaming death.

"Mm," Magnus felt the rejuvenation sent to him after the deaths of those monsters.

"I recall why I hadn't wanted to do that at the start," He answered his earlier thoughts.

"It's because I need to see if I can train from the rejuvenation thing." He muttered as he glanced at the monster that died as a shish-kebab.

A thought entered his mind at that moment. His nose sniffed a certain scent. It was a pleasant aroma that made his mouth water.

"...Can these guys be eaten..? They smell... great..."

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Being able to consume the monsters was a revelation that brought up Magnus' mood. He regretted crushing the other four into a bloody meat paste.

"The number one rule of fantasy," Magnus muttered to himself with a full mouth of food, "Monster meat tastes like chicken. I can't believe this is real."

Magnus enjoyed munching on his simple roasted food as well as the healing it brought to his soul. Every crisp crunch and every juicy piece of meat he successfully butchered out of the carcass was a great time.

Until he heard footsteps. A few of them at that. Some voices were coupled with these different footsteps.

Magnus quickly cycled his Spirit Energy as those fur balls did. Those voices that spoke gibberish at first grew clear to him as he heard the intent and thoughts behind them.

"Have you heard about what happened above?" One asked, curious.

"I have. Miss Asphell messed up this time. There was chaos in her city just as she was being visited by some... unsavoury fellows."

"Oi..." The first voice suddenly hissed, "Be careful with your words. They might hear you through the elements. They're nearby. Don't ever forget that or I will be dying with you!"

The second voice then went silent. Just as it was about to speak out again, Magnus noticed that the footsteps were about to enter his room.

He stood up and put on a vigilant expression.

When the two parties met, they paused for a moment.

Magnus scanned the people before him. There were four humans dressed in medieval clothes, with swords and weapons either strapped to their waist or left hanging somewhere else.

"Hello," Magnus was the first to speak. He gestured to the small roasted carcass at his feet.

"Want some?" He asked, putting on a smile.

He was hoping for a short yet simple interaction with one party simply leaving after a small greeting.

He did not expect the crooked expression on the faces of the people before him.

"You... are you eating monster meat?" One of the earlier voices spoke, surprising Magnus for a moment.

"Yes. But why do you look so..." Magnus thought for a moment to find the right word, "Appalled?"

"Because monster meat is the worst kind of meat to eat. It is disgusting." Another voice answered, "Also, how are you able to eat such a thing without getting Spirit Poisoning? It should be lethal to absorb a monster's dirty Spirit Energy. Unless..."

The voice then started to contemplate something, and Magnus narrowed his eyes in response.

He glanced at the person who had just spoken.

It was a woman, with long silvery grey hair and a fair complexion. She had features that made her look playful, but her demeanour spoke of a calculative personality.

She opened her lips to speak,

"—Unless you're not human."

Instantly, a few of the people in the girl's group straightened up as if they got the chills. They eyed Magnus warily, as the latter did the same.

"I know for sure that I am human. Care to elaborate more on why eating such an... organism is foul for me?" He spoke, taking a step behind the monster he killed.

This action agitated the group a bit as they all unsheathed their swords and blades.

"Stop!"

The girl held her hand out.

"He hasn't attacked so hold your weapons. We may be meeting a spirit beast instead of a monster. Listen to his words. It is different from what we are hearing in our heads. This is something only beasts can do." The girl said to her comrades before turning towards Magnus.

"As for your request... stranger, it is simply because human spirits are incompatible with toxic foreign Spirit Energy."

"Hm, I see," Magnus recalled his Curses and how the energy that erupted when he used Master of the Hivemind was quite special. His seeming immunity might have come from the way his Curses held together Spirit Energy.

"You see?" The girl asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"It simply means I have suspicions as to why I'm immune to the monsters' toxic Spirit Energy..." Magnus answered, "I come from a more advanced place, and the humans there don't have such an issue. Let me show you all a little of what my Spirit Energy is like."

Magnus suddenly put on a more solemn expression as he spoke one line of his Blessing's invocation.

"I am the master and maker of the Hivemind."

It sounded like a declaration instead of an invocation at that moment.

And that one line already summoned a vile amount of energy, containing traits of enslavement and absolute control. It shrouded Magnus like fog after erupting from his wrist.

It made the opposing party shudder in fear. They felt like such an ability was both their bane and boon. A boon so horrifying, that it may just be a bane instead.

Magnus then flicked his fingers for a little flair.

Since he did not continue his invocation, his Blessing stopped acting up.

"How is it? Can this prove why I have an immunity? I don't want any violence against my fellow humans, you see." Magnus smiled as amiably as he could.

The girl was the first to speak, but not without a few coughs.

"It... it might prove it, Sir." Suddenly her tone changed. She seemed to realise something. Or perhaps more than just something.

"My name is Alice. What's yours?" She asked.

And Magnus replied. "Magnus Avary."

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Magnus got to know the group through a little chat. He silently made the connection between Asphell with the woman he enraged and made a mental note to keep track of her movements through whatever means he could.

Alice also introduced her companions. Haille, Jack, and Oliver were their names. The first was a lady and the latter two were guys.

Their entire visit into these parts seemed to be some combat-oriented double date. They wanted to strengthen their bonds through teamwork at the height of 'Spiritual Combat."

It was only then that they believed they could find a proper partner.

Such a society had been built within the underground city called Gratter. Fighting monsters with one's partner was a culture that Magnus found interesting as such a thing wasn't possible on Earth.

'Perhaps now that the Trials have started, there will be opportunities for people to do that in the future.' He thought.

After chatting, Alice and the other three bade Magnus a farewell. They mentioned that after they went to kill a few monsters to bring their corpses back to be used as resources, they wouldn't be coming back for a few days.

It left Magnus thinking about what he would do with the monsters that he too would kill.

'I can't eat them all, now can I?' He thought to himself, 'But it would be such a waste... Their blood and flesh are all very nutritious. Perhaps even Klaris could heal from eating monster meat every day.'

And so, Magnus began going around the underground catacombs, killing whatever clawed gremlin he spotted. He would then eat through the corpses together with Klaris who was overjoyed to have so much to eat for every meal.

He was gulping down blood like crazy, and Magnus suspected that the man was a vampire in secret. With the black hair and deathly white complexion, he truly had reason to believe so.

"If only your eyes are red," Magnus joked with Klaris whose mind had been returned.

"My eyes are red..." Klaris retorted, "But only during Mirror World Thief's duration."

It made Magnus raise his brows, "No way, really? I don't remember such a thing in your memories."

"Maybe you missed it," Klaris shrugged, a bit smug.

"..." Magnus made a vow to search through Klaris' memories thoroughly next time.

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Magnus went into a trance-like state ever since he discovered how nutritious the monster meat was for both him and Klaris. With the latter's wounds fully healing after just a few short days of nearly constant consumption.

It was then finally time for a bit of crime.

Together, Magnus and Klaris had discussed what they should steal. And the latter insisted on a certain object in Magnus' memories.

It was a rifle. An AKM he had once had the pleasure of shooting in a shooting range.

Magnus felt like such a weapon was not going to be useful at all given his isekai novel bias, but Klaris thought otherwise.

"It's how you use it that matters," Klaris had a wild smile on his face that Magnus had no idea where it came from.

"Very well then," Magnus handed Klaris a few memories through the Hivemind and watched as Klaris opened his mouth to speak an invocation.

"I am the thief of mirrored creation. The cloned child. The descendant of greens. And the walker of reflections."

And then, Klaris' eyes glazed over as an ethereal presence descended upon him. Tyrm's dense Spirit Energy truly made Blessings look all the more dazzling than they usually were.

Magnus admired such a view for a moment before the Spirit Energy in the area stirred and Klaris pulled a well-worn, brown and black rifle out from thin air. The sound of a few hundred bullets falling out of an oversized magazine rang out as well.

"Whoa," Magnus clapped his hands. "You even found a loophole in your own Blessing. Aren't bullets supposed to count as separate and individual entities?"

"This isn't a performance, Magnus. Here, show me how it works. And no, bullets aren't individual entities as long as they are in the gun. Wasn't it on my fifth invocation that I tried something similar and it worked?"

"Right, right," Magnus mumbled, "I'll just send you the memories then. You don't have to give it to me. Just tell me when you're done familiarizing yourself with it. There's another item I want. We have enough Spirit Energy for it, as long as you don't spend an hour toiling away."