Chapter 28: The Power of the Advanced Meditation Technique "The Crystal Mask"

Leylin Blight's POV

After parting ways with Wendy and the others, I returned to the bunker after quickly checking the situation at the lake with the radiation emitted by Willow.

"I underestimated the range and intensity of this thing," I muttered, frowning. At that moment, I was too preoccupied with protecting myself from the radiation's intensity and getting Willow to safety to truly understand the scope of the situation.

Fortunately, I can clean up the area quickly, but given the dead animals and fish floating on the water, I must have already attracted the government's attention.

"It's not really a big deal, I can just erase their memories when they arrive and make them believe something else," I concluded mentally.

I started using Oracle magic to clean up the radiation and also used some radiation-absorbing plants to accelerate nature's healing process.

The water and plants should return to normal in a few years. I can speed this up, but it would be even more suspicious than the current situation.

I quickly headed to the bunker. It seems Willow is about to come out of her trance from the evolution process to a rank 1 magus.

"Does she really want to kill me or what? Haha," I said, joking slightly as I opened one of the bunker doors.

When I opened the door, I was hit by radiation almost instantly, but I had already anticipated this situation.

That's why I used an energy shield with Oracle magic before entering the room where Willow is.

"Congratulations, you've officially become a magus," I said to Willow, who stood alone in the middle of the room. She seemed hypnotized by her surroundings.

"Leylin, I feel different... no, I am different," she said in a low voice, but her words were strangely captivating.

"Yes, I know," I simply replied, moving towards her.

"I can see much better, my connection with plants has never been so strong, and especially..." She gave me a slight glance, I could feel something trying to affect my thoughts.

I trust my "inner" version to quickly suppress any alterations in my thoughts or memories since I can communicate with it.

However, ordinary witches who aren't interested in the mind will be screwed against Willow right now.

She literally affected my mind just with a glance, I'm curious to know what would happen if she really wanted to attack my mind.

"Was that an illusion just now?" I asked, frowning. Although I'm proud of her evolution, there are things not to do.

I don't like her using her abilities on me without my consent, but it's probably involuntary.

"Sorry Leylin, it seems to be a passive ability," Willow declared apologetically.

"It is indeed an illusion. From my understanding of it, it greatly increases my affinity with living beings," she explained, but I could see she didn't know much about this ability.

She must only possess the basic information and nothing else.

Céline Farlier's meditation technique, Leylin Farlier's wife, has no pure offensive capabilities, but it remains formidable in its own way.

That's also the real reason why I taught it to Willow and not an advanced meditation technique that would be of the ordinary offensive type.

I wanted to be sure I could beat her if she decided to betray me. Now, thanks to her, I understand that Leylin Farlier was really afraid Belzebub might discover his location and actually left me to obtain all this knowledge.

Willow's meditation technique is based on superior illusions that were not only used on opponents but also on the user.

At a certain stage of practice, Willow's opponents will find it unbearable to harm her, and strangers will very often be inclined to want to be "friends" with her.

Willow doesn't know it yet, but her meditation technique has only one real effect outside of "inner spells": it's to increase affinity with others, or more precisely the "natural" affinity with all things.

At an advanced stage, Willow's meditation technique will even affect official magus, using Willow's magical energy to enter the magus's body and influence the natural inclinations of their mind.

To put it crudely, if a woman likes men, then Willow could change her orientation with enough time.

It's literally Aizen's Kyoka Suigetsu, but less powerful and passive.

From my memories, this technique will even affect the unconscious mind of living creatures. Moreover, it will also attract elemental energy particles of the illusion type and grant Willow "innate spells" of the illusion type.

This technique just has the side effect of involuntarily bewitching the people surrounding Willow.

That's how Willow involuntarily tried to enchant me to increase her affinity with me. Fortunately, I'm not an ordinary individual, and I was prepared.

Ordinary humans could become "simp" for Willow, and it could even go as far as unhealthy obsession depending on Willow's level of practice.

"Leylin! Can you hear me?" Willow asked in a worried tone.

"Sorry, I was lost in thought, and your new appearance doesn't help," I said honestly.

"What?! What's wrong with my new appearance?!" she said in a panicked tone.

Shoot, it seems she hasn't seen herself in a mirror.

I used an ice glyph to create an ice mirror for Willow. I could see she seemed slightly shocked by the side effects of her meditation technique.

It makes sense, you need to be extremely beautiful to have a good affinity with people around you, but also be charismatic and have good social skills.

This meditation technique increases all of this as you practice it. That's how Céline Farlier was able to survive by using "simps" to fight for her, but also conclude advantageous alliances with powerful individuals.

It's surprising that she remained a virgin until her encounter with Leylin Farlier.

"Is this really me?" she asked, touching her cheeks that had lost their baby fat.

(Image)

"Yes, you didn't notice your height either?" I said with a small smile.

After these words, Willow looked at me to compare our heights. Thanks to physical training, I was rather tall for my age, but Willow now looked like a teenager like Wendy.

"You changed clothes but didn't notice, haha," I said, laughing at her absent-mindedness.

"I was just overwhelmed by my new abilities and the information from the meditation technique," she explained before pouting.

Even this childish act was strangely captivating. I immediately created a mask with an abomination and gave it to Willow.

There's no way she's going out like this, she risks causing problems, and I doubt a simple illusion spell can fix that.

"Don't take this off when we're outside, and also, rest," after these words, I went out of the bunker.

I couldn't rest next to Willow because of the radiation. She'll have to learn Oracle magic even harder to contain this thing.

As I lay on the grass watching the sun rise, I slowly fell asleep thinking about the supernatural objects I need to search for with Willow.

"Leylin!! I figured out how to minimize the output of this strange energy," Willow declared, coming out of the bunker.

"Oh!" She was surprised to see Leylin asleep on the grass in the forest clearing at sunrise.

"He should do this more often," she said, smiling tenderly before returning to the bunker.

...

"Where are we going?" Willow asked, walking behind me.

"I need to get something around here," I explained, arriving in a prairie with a single hill with a single rock on top.

"Willow," I said to her, indicating the rock. She just nodded before destroying it with a sword strike.

Her physical strength has increased enormously, I should avoid confronting her with a sword during training for now.

"Willow, you're about to witness the true power of science!!" I said, opening a hidden trapdoor under the rock leading to a spaceship.