Soulless Players

Philip focused his senses on the sounds coming from the wall. Additionally, he relied on his 25-meter radius surrounding awareness dreamwalker ability to sense movement behind it.

A masculine voice ordered, "Cover your nose with the mask. The area is polluted with sleeping gas."

After a few seconds, another voice echoed in the room, asking, "How long do we need to wait for the summoning ritual to begin? From what I can see, we have already gathered all 30 children as an offering. We also have some extras in case someone dies."

A man with a slightly high-pitched voice replied, "The summoning master has been locked in his room. We have no idea when he will come out. So, while waiting, let's arrange the children on the summoning circle first."

As Philip listened, he also sought a way to bypass the wall, looking for holes or gaps. After all, it was impossible for the people inside to breathe without air ventilation.

However, as he continued to listen, he noticed that aside from the men's conversation, he didn't hear any wind pressure circulating within. It was as if the air was stagnant.

'How could this be possible?' Philip pondered, his face furrowing in disbelief. He couldn't believe this was happening.

Of course, his disbelief was not unfounded, as he had spent nearly a week as a student of civil engineering. In addition, he had been studying Conrad's notes to better comprehend the subject. His understanding of structures was more than a layman's.

'What's the difference between a coffin and this room without ventilation?' he asked himself internally.

It was then that Philip suspected that the room was not normal.

'Was this room designed to thwart mentalists' astral travel? Yes, it's highly likely. With this, it would be impossible for mentalists to see what's inside the room.' Philip frowned; this hypothesis made his infiltration much more difficult.

As Philip contemplated his next course of action, he heard a footstep not from the room, but from his left.

Surprised, Philip saw two men brimming with golden light approaching him from a distance and quickly hid.

Two men soon arrived in front of the brick wall, with the lead man placing his hand on the wall. One of the bricks was pushed back, and an entryway emerged, just like before.

While Philip was hiding in the shadows, he overheard the group of men saying, "Where's Jude?"

"He's coming. He's taking a break somewhere," the lead man answered, his nose twitching in disgust and amusement.

After the brick door closed, Philip emerged from his hiding place and quickly dashed off to where the two men had been earlier.

When Philip saw an oil lamp and a man sitting near the murky running water with his pants half-fixed, Philip pounced on him and delivered a strong kick. The man tumbled to the ground until he lay unconscious near the wall, his breathing uneven.

Philip swiftly removed the man's clothes and memorized his facial and body features.

When the man woke up, Philip quickly asked him a series of questions.

"What's your name?"

"J-Jude Mores," the man answered, stammering.

"Describe your personality."

Although Jude was confused, he still answered honestly, "Well, I'm talkative and a comedian. I like to tell dirty jokes. I also like to take advantage of women younger and smaller than me. Hehehe."

Hearing Jude's disgusting laugh, Philip swiftly stopped his questioning and strangled Jude to death.

Once Jude had died, Philip enveloped his dead, naked body with his astral domain and transported it to his traveler's ring.

Everything happened so quickly. Philip changed his clothes and shortly swallowed the ring to prevent someone who knew about its worth from finding out.

After everything was done, he returned to the wall and gave it a knock.

Immediately, the wall opened, and a man welcomed him.

"What took you so long?" the man grinned as he looked down at Jude's pants.

"Well, I found an unconscious woman and gave her the time of her life. Hehehe," Philip joked, mimicking Jude's laugh.

The men inside laughed, and one of them said, "Where can you find a woman in this dirty place? Unless it's an animal!"

"You're right!" Philip smirked and joked once again, "I did the sewage rat a good release!"

"The hell, man! Your jokes are getting weirder!" The man felt goosebumps on his skin, but there was still a hint of amusement on his face.

'Did I overdo it?' Philip wondered internally and then asked,

"Where is the summoning master? Haven't we collected all the children? Why not start?" Philip copied the question he had heard earlier.

The man replied, "Well, they said the master is still locked in his room. It's unknown when he will come out. Hey, wear your mask."

Philip accepted the mask and surveyed the room inside. The children, who had been locked up in prison cells, were now released and had their clothes completely removed. They were also positioned around the outer summoning circle, spaced a meter apart from one another.

It was then Philip had the time to observe the red drawings on the ground. They were filled with symbols and lines interconnecting to form a star with numerous edges.

In the center of the summoning circle stood a huge statue of a horse-like monster with three heads, each having the horns of a goat.

When the group of men saw this, they promptly knelt to the ground. Seeing this, Philip followed and shouted, "Oh, great devil Hodmeion!"

The men worshiped the statue as if they were under its spell, their whole lives dedicated to the devil and its resurrection.

Philip furrowed his brow as he silently examined the men's mental state, wondering if they were brainwashed.

Philip was familiar with this emotion from his past life. Even though he was now a blank slate and was slowly forgetting his past life, he could still remember the feeling of being controlled.

While he contemplated this, a supposition formed in his mind: 'Maybe the person behind this was a mentalist capable of brainwashing others.'

Of course, this was just mere speculation. After all, he didn't know much about the abilities of higher-level mentalists. He could only base his hypothesis on the limited knowledge he had, specifically from the books he had purchased and the core memory he had previously unlocked.

The book mentioned that the higher your level, the higher the possibility of controlling others with a mere thought, much like his core memory's ability to unconsciously influence others.

'But while it is highly probable, it is still a speculation. I don't even know if I can unlock my core memory again and use its ability of mind control.'

Since the book he read stopped at Empaths, Philip couldn't confirm his speculations and could only search for more information.

Nonetheless, Philip remained vigilant. He believed it was better to assume than not to assume.

With that in mind, he became more careful and covered his mind with the dominant emotion from his second core memory. This was made to shield him from empathetic powers.

As he continued to survey the surroundings, he finally spotted Gerald, naked and lying on his stomach. But as a mentalist with high mental awareness, Philip could tell that Gerald wasn't truly asleep like the others. He was merely acting.

Philip quickly averted his eyes, trying to conceal the fact that he had discovered this.

Shortly afterward, a middle-aged man emerged from the other side of the wall. His hair was graying, and he stood slightly hunched. He held a staff taller than his 170 cm height, with a red round crystal embedded at the top.

When Philip glanced at the crystal, he involuntarily closed his eyes and deactivated his second uniqueness. The light emanating from the crystal was more intense than any he had ever seen before, even brighter than the combined light from Sam and Lala!

Philip frowned, he believed this staff was extremely dangerous. Moreover, the light radiating from the newly emerged man was similarly strong. If combined with the staff, the man was three times brighter than Philip himself.

It's important to note that Philip was no ordinary person. Not only does he possess two uniquenesses, but he is also a dreamwalker and has high physique stats. In fact, in terms of value, he was brighter than Loen, Emile, Sam, and Lala combined.

However, although brighter, this didn't mean he was stronger than anyone else. He simply possessed numerous abilities.

Despite this, Philip couldn't help but be shocked by the intense light emanating from the man. He felt not only fear but also an intense feeling of wanting to submit.

He didn't know where this specific emotion came from, but he felt it deeply.

When he realized his emotions were showing, he quickly enveloped himself with his second uniqueness, projecting feelings of joy and admiration toward the man.

The other men had a similar reaction, quickly kneeling and bowing their heads when they saw him.

"Greetings, Summoning Master, the great Gregorio Damion!"

Hearing this, Gregorio nodded slightly and walked to the center of the summoning circle, facing the statue. With a raise of his staff, he murmured, "Sleep."

Suddenly, Philip felt overwhelmingly lethargic and collapsed to the floor. Alongside the other men, he fell into a deep, uninterrupted slumber.