Chapter 36: Mind Reading Magic

"Oh, is that so? Sounds like it makes some sense..."

Reider didn't immediately agree with his subordinate's words, but he seemed a bit hesitant. He waved his hand and dismissed the man.

"I'll think about it. You go pass on the orders first. Let me stay here alone for a while."

This was troublesome. The emperor wasn't in a hurry, but we sneaky observers were getting quite restless.

"What does he want to do? He keeps changing his mind!" Cyra whispered impatiently.

"I'm not sure either..." 

This was a very important decision for the Empire. Maybe Reider had his own plans. Even Adrian didn't dare make guesses.

"Why don't we try using mind reading magic?" I suggested after thinking for a moment.

Knowing whether the Empire would send troops was crucial for our next move. We obviously couldn't just go ask Reider himself, but maybe we could read his mind with magic!

Light magic is the only element that can connect with the spirit. Humans usually can't do it easily on their own, often needing magic arrays to boost their power. But in this world, there really is legendary mind reading magic!

It's difficult for humans, but for angels, mind reading magic is relatively simple! In Edenmere, it's just a medium-high level advanced magic.

Of course, even mind reading magic has many limitations when used. For example, if the target has too much light or dark elements or fighting spirit, it will greatly reduce the magic's effect or even make it fail completely.

Also, in reality, if the target can sense light elements, they might notice the magic intrusion early and take countermeasures or put up mental defenses. That makes it even harder to succeed! So mind reading magic isn't very common in this world.

Luckily, I didn't sense any light or dark elements in Reider's body, so we shouldn't need to worry about those limitations. He just sent away his only subordinate who could defend against mind reading magic, leaving him alone in the meeting room. The only trouble is that this magic uses up a huge amount of energy. I can't cast it without spreading my wings.

"No choice, we'll just have to risk it! I'll fold my wings back as soon as I finish the spell. The people in the base shouldn't be able to pinpoint our exact location easily."

After weighing the pros and cons, I thought it was worth gambling for the intel! Even though spreading my wings will release a huge amount of light element energy, that same huge amount also makes it hard for enemies to locate us precisely. It doesn't affect our invisibility either, so we'll have many chances to escape easily afterwards.

"Go for it. With me here, everyone will be fine!" Adrian was unsurprisingly very supportive after hearing my plan.

"Alright, let's begin!"

Without further ado, I spread my wings and focused my gaze on Reider in the meeting room, starting to circulate the magic power in my body.

I actually hadn't used this mind reading magic much since learning it. I only vaguely remembered the pathways for circulating the elements. To be honest, I felt quite nervous using it now. Luckily, its principle is similar to the communication magic "Spiritual Convergence". Both use light elements to transmit consciousness information, so the whole process went much more smoothly than I expected.

Soon I felt my thoughts connect to a new realm, hearing many chaotic voices - that was Reider's mental space. He wouldn't notice unless I "spoke".

"Though I'm not sure, based on the timeline, they should have arrived here by now, right? But we can't rule out the possibility of others interfering early. Maybe the predetermined course of history has already changed..."

That's the first thing I heard, but it was confusing without any context! I couldn't understand at all what this so-called inner voice of Reider meant!

"Warning! Intruder detected attempting to spy on your mental activity! Do you wish to spend points on defense? One-time mental defense function costs 3000 points!"

Suddenly, a strange voice rang out. For a moment I thought Cyra might have triggered some alarm in the base. But I quickly realized this voice was actually coming from inside Reider's head.

"So someone's reading my mind? Why is it so expensive?" 

Even more bizarrely, Reider's inner thoughts could actually converse with this alarm voice. He asked in surprise, "But I didn't notice anything myself! System, are you sure you're not mistaken?"

"Absolutely certain. Error probability 0.00001%. This is likely due to mind reading magic cast by a high-level human light mage or angel. Inquiring again if you wish to spend points on defense!"

That rigid and annoying voice sounded again.

"Yes, yes, of course! Confirm spending 3000 points!" 

Hearing the repeated warning, Reider immediately agreed without hesitation, then anxiously continued asking:

"Also, can you help locate the caster's position? Since they're using magic, they shouldn't be too far from me, right?"

"Affirmative. Searching for caster's location costs 35000 points. Do you confirm..."

I only heard that much before I felt my consciousness get "ejected" from Reider's mental space. I'm not sure if it was an accident or if that so-called "System" really interfered, but the mind reading magic mysteriously failed!

"Damn... System?"

What the heck was that thing! I was completely dumbfounded, standing there stunned in reality.

"What system? How did your mind reading magic go?" Cyra asked in confusion. Her volume wasn't much louder than before. But as soon as she finished speaking, Reider in the meeting room suddenly seemed to hear her words. His unusually sharp gaze abruptly turned towards our direction.

"Oh no... Run!"

I was shocked and knew we were in trouble! I quickly folded my wings and dragged Adrian as we fled the platform at top speed.

"Huh? How..." 

Adrian couldn't help exclaiming in surprise. Obviously he realized things hadn't gone as expected. If we were exposed just because I spread my wings, Reider shouldn't have been the first to react.

But escaping was urgent, so he didn't ask more. He just followed me closely as we retreated the way we came.

Sure enough, we'd been discovered. We'd barely escaped the platform area when extremely loud alarms started blaring throughout the military base. The imperial soldiers training nearby immediately went on alert. They quickly formed search teams and began sweeping the base in groups.

"What do we do now?"

Standing frozen in the indoor training ground, I suddenly lost my bearings in the tension. Though we were temporarily safe from discovery due to invisibility, we couldn't stay here forever. Anyway, even if we wanted to escape, we couldn't use the main entrance! Several light mages were gathered there specifically to guard against invisible spies like us sneaking in. Our only option was to find a way back the way we came.

"Have you... heard of Systems? Like, ones that attach to people and can exchange various abilities?"

I couldn't help asking tentatively as we went. Though I was mentally prepared for being discovered after spreading my wings, the change came too suddenly. Not only did I fail to get any useful information from the mind reading magic, I was caught completely off guard myself.

"System?" 

Adrian clearly had no idea what that meant. His tone was full of bewilderment.

I felt a bit disappointed. I'd thought that as a native of this world, he might know something...

"System... From what you're saying, do you mean the kind where you complete various assigned tasks to get rewards, then exchange them for skills, attributes, bloodlines and rare items, and eventually even allow the user to traverse the void, ascend to immortality, or become a god on the spot?"

Cyra was much quicker on the uptake. She'd obviously read these kinds of novels as I expected. After a moment's recollection, she rattled off a description.

"No way, are you serious? Do such things really exist in this world?" 

Even Adrian, with all his wisdom and experience, was fooled by Cyra's exaggeration. She repeatedly asked in disbelief.

"Well, it's not as exaggerated as she said, but I really did discover something similar on Reider just now..." 

I quickly tried to calm him down, then briefly told them what happened during the mind reading magic.

"Damn, that Reider is clearly a big shot with cheats! No wonder he could start as a small noble and overthrow the previous emperor to become the imperial ruler. We've run into this kind of guy, we'd better run faster!"

Cyra may not be good at fighting, but she's quite capable when it comes to escaping. She was lagging behind before, but after hearing this, her speed suddenly increased several times. The faint light element aura she was emitting quickly surpassed my position, instantly darting to the front.