Chapter 72: Mind Manipulation

The earth spike had the same level of magic power as the blast flame ability. It carried not just a piercing physical attack but also extremely powerful earth-attributed magic power. Following the violent impact on the giant slime, the whole core part crumbled instantly, turning into dust-like particles that were scattered one after the other. Finally, a huge ball of energy emerged and was fully absorbed by Jiang Xiaowen.

Xiao Yu was feeling quite depressed. He struggled hard for a long time but didn’t inflict the slightest damage to the red slime; hence, he didn’t receive one bit of the monster’s essence of energy, which Jiang Xiaowen was now being showered with. Then, as expected, after the girl absorbed all the energy of the giant slime, she immediately advanced to the first order.

Two minutes later, when the light cocoon cracked, Jiang Xiaowen appeared. Her whole body was shrouded in a faint halo; her skin was crystal clear, with a charming luster radiating off her skin; her facial features seemed to be more refined than before, and the butterfly wings on her back were two points larger. Moreover, the wings, which were as thin as a cicada’s, were now translucent, with many luminous lines running through them, looking like an exquisite handicraft—so beautiful that they were dazzling.

Her appearance became more refined than before, and there was a subtle charm hanging between her brows, but her charm was very pure and natural.

Jiang Xiaowen spread her wings, flew up lightly, transformed into a purple shadow before shuttling back and forth twice in the air, and then landed gracefully, slowly descending down in front of Xiao Yu like a goddess of war, a look of joy plastered on her face. As soon as her feet landed on the ground, she jumped up excitedly. Xiao Yu felt a gust of fragrant breeze coming towards him, embracing him warmly.

“Great, I finally advanced! Thank you, thank you!” Jiang Xiaowen’s delicate body trembled slightly, then she raised her blushing face to look at Xiao Yu and took two steps back in embarrassment, “Sorry, I… I was just so happy, that’s why.”

Xiao Yu shook his head, then asked the most crucial question, “Did your innate skill evolve?”

Jiang Xiaowen suddenly remembered and exclaimed, “Yes, the new innate skill I’ve acquired is… mind manipulation!”

Xiao Yu’s expression changed drastically; he almost thought he heard wrongly, “What did you say?”

Jiang Xiaowen replied timidly, “It’s mind manipulation…what’s the matter?”

“It’s actually mind manipulation? You are truly gifted in mental evolution.” Xiao Yu took two deep breaths and said, “You know, this is a very powerful skill; your potential is by no means inferior to Miss Han’s!”

In the company of Han Kexin, Jiang Xiaowen has always had low self-esteem. Han Kexin was charming and sexy, with a plump and gorgeous appearance that made her look more feminine; however, other than her appearance, she was also shrewd and competent. Back in the underground cave, she was regarded as second in command, right below Xiao Yu. Now, she was the deputy leader, second only to him, showing how much Xiao Yu valued her.

Now that Xiao Yu had evaluated herself in the same league as Han Kexin, Jiang Xiaowen immediately felt a sense of accomplishment.

Jiang Xiaowen was pleased, but her gaze shifted, and she caught sight of an ugly and menacing monster—the half-abomination.

“Ah, no matter how strong this summoned monster is, it won’t fight, so what’s the use of keeping it around?”

“This half-abomination is a failure among failures.” A burst of light flashed through Xiao Yu’s eyes, and he said hurriedly, “No, it still has its worth, and it can actually be very valuable!”

Jiang Xiaowen asked suspiciously, “Oh, what do you mean?”

Xiao Yu said to her: “Perhaps it is worthless to other people, but it is very useful to you. You can control it with your mind manipulation innate ability!”

Jiang Xiaowen opened her mouth wide, “Huh? Do you mean to control this big monster? Can I really do it?”

Xiao Yu nodded in agreement, “In theory, mind manipulation only works on individuals with weaker mental strength. Controlling those with strong willpower becomes less likely. The half-abomination’s mental strength is much higher than yours, so it’s reasonable to assume it would be difficult to control. However, this monster has no thinking ability, just a carcass with no power. If you try to control its mind, it won’t make any resistance, so it is entirely possible to succeed! In any case, there is no danger, so you may as well give it a try.”

Jiang Xiaowen nodded in understanding and approached the towering half-abomination, who was four meters tall. Despite her small stature, she stood firmly in front of the monster. She took a deep breath and focused on the massive eyes of the creature. Her spiritual power was like an intangible thread, infiltrating its thoughts, trying to manipulate its will.

Xiao Yu watched her every action with a frown. He was curious to know whether Jiang Xiaowen could succeed in controlling the half-abomination.

After a while, Jiang Xiaowen’s face was covered with sweat, and her eyes were feeling sore, but she remained motionless in front of the creature. She clenched her teeth and strengthened the output of spiritual power.

Suddenly, the half-abomination’s eyes moved.

Xiao Yu noticed this scene, and there was a hint of joy on his face, “Sure enough, she succeeded.”

The half-abomination, who was initially motionless like a statue, turned its neck slightly, then raised its arms, stomped its feet, twisted its waist… and began to trot around Jiang Xiaowen and Xiao Yu at every moment.

Jiang Xiaowen wiped off the sweat from her forehead and said, “I’ve succeeded; I’m currently controlling this big monster!”

Xiao Yu explained, “Mind manipulation makes every action of the target fully controlled by the user. The half-abomination was originally at the peak of the first order and is only half a step away from the second order. But, unfortunately, mind manipulation is a complete mind control skill as it utterly erases the target’s self-awareness, making obedience to all commands mandatory. However, there are certain drawbacks to having perfect mind control. Although you have total control over every bit of its actions, you are not a half-abomination, so you cannot exert its full power; you must first gradually familiarize yourself with its abilities.”

Jiang Xiaowen nodded her head repeatedly and directed the half-abomination to run and leap. She was clearly having fun manipulating it.

Xiao Yu said to her: “The others must be impatiently waiting for us. Use the sealed scroll to seal it again, then we will depart right after.”

Sealed scrolls were largely different from summoning scrolls. The creatures summoned by summoning scrolls are created by magic rather than being actual lifeforms. After being summoned, they would heed the summoner’s commands and disappear when the magic power was exhausted. On the other hand, sealed scrolls carry real monsters that would not vanish, but as a drawback, they were not within the summoner’s control.

The scroll in Jiang Xiaowen’s hand was especially used to seal the half-abomination; after consuming the power of two lower soul gems, the seal was reopened, and the monster under her control had not the slightest resistance, as an anti-summoning formation composed of countless magic symbols appeared right underneath its feet. Then, in a burst of light, the half-abomination disappeared into thin air. The magical symbols flew up one by one and returned to the unrolled scroll, which dropped to the ground and was scooped up by Jiang Xiaowen.

The giant slime dropped several intermediate soul gems and three white light balls, which were obviously three white-grade items. Xiao Yu opened the first one and found that it was a fist-sized, soft, jelly-like substance. After further examination, it turned out to be a living thing; its whole body was red like a ruby, and it had no fixed shape. Upon touching a wound on the palm of Xiao Yu’s hand, the shapeless body moved slightly.

Xiao Yu felt a surge of pain, only to realize that the wound had been split apart and the blood on the skin had been drained out. The creature wriggling on his palm was initially sluggish like mud, but with a gleam of luster on its ruby-like body, a spiritual connection was formed. Xiao Yu could feel a tinge of delight from the little guy’s spiritual power.

Jiang Xiaowen was taken aback, “Ah, it looks like the disgusting monster we just defeated, but it looks much better and cuter!”

“This is an infant monster!” Xiao Yu was very shocked and pleasantly surprised as he gently squeezed the slime in his hand into a ball, “This is an extremely rare mutant slime that inherited its mother’s ability to devour and absorb, as well as the ability to use mental attacks. The slime we met before was that powerful because it mutated and devoured hundreds of slimes!”

Jiang Xiaowen was a little dazed, “Is this an infant slime? It doesn’t seem to have any fighting power at the moment, but I’m worried it’ll come after us as it grows up.”

Xiao Yu held the slime in his hand, “The monster is still in its early stages and is very precious and rare; it has already established a spiritual connection with me, and it will never betray me; after all, the connection is equivalent to accepting me as its master.”

“That’s great! I got a big monster, and you tamed a little monster,” Jiang Xiaowen exclaimed. It’s just that this little guy is too weak, so it can only be kept as a pet for now.”

At this stage, infant monsters could be encountered but not sought for. Any monster at its newborn stage was incredibly valuable since it had enormous growth potential and had the potential to develop into a formidable comrade-in-arms who would never betray its owner in the future. However, raising a monster was not an easy process. They could not absorb essence of monsters and must ingest soul gems on a daily basis. The bigger their strength, the greater their consumption, and once the food runs out, the monster would dry up and die. As a result, many people often ruined themselves in the process of raising an infant monster.

Currently, the little guy was starving.

Xiao Yu took out a bunch of lower soul gems from the space ring and handed them over. The mutated slime immediately rushed forward, wrapped the soul gems in its tentacles, and swallowed them one by one. Then it began to extract the power from them. Soul gems were nothing more than nutrition. If it feeds on soul gems alone, it will definitely not be able to enter the elementary stage until after a month and a half has passed. Fortunately, the mutant slime had the rare “devour” skill, which could allow it to grow quickly by devouring other creatures.

Xiao Yu took the second ball of light and opened it to reveal a lovely red necklace.

“Ruby Necklace”, a peak white grade item, is engraved with a first-rank “Mental Amplification” blessing, and its function is to enhance the effect of mental attacks.

Items that can enhance the strength of mental attacks are scarce. It was obviously wasted on ordinary people, but it was undeniably a rare treasure in the hands of those who could use mental attacks, especially at this stage. Relying on the first-rank, “Mental Amplification”, the current effects and power of Jiang Xiaowen’s “dream dust” and “mind manipulation” would increase by at least a quarter!