Chapter 319

Chapter 319: The Newborn Heart-Seizing Demon

Had he truly become a Heart-Seizing Demon?

Midi found it hard to accept. Why did the trial to become a Thought Capturer transform him into one of these creatures?

Since he couldn’t understand, he had no choice but to accept it. This was merely an illusion, not actual transformation.

After calming himself, Midi began examining his surroundings.

The final trial took place in a Heart-Seizing Demon settlement. Instead of the Star Ocean, the environment resembled their true home—the Shaded Realm. The real Shaded Realm lay deep beneath Arad, vast enough to connect with the Demon Realm in some areas. But this illusion only recreated the settlement and its immediate surroundings.

Once he grasped basic telepathy, Midi started exploring.

The settlement housed around two hundred Heart-Seizing Demons. The remaining eight hundred were mind-controlled races: dark elves, gray dwarves, underground gnomes, and others. Total population neared one thousand.

The demon Midi possessed held high status—a Commander in the Heart-Seizing Demon Council, subordinate only to elders and wise ones. He commanded Heart-Seizing Magicians and the servant army.

A general-like role.

As a genius commander, Midi appreciated this position. But human tactics might not work here. With no clear mission beyond surviving, he focused on adapting—learning the organization’s structure and mastering his new body.

Though humanoid, Heart-Seizing Demons differed in two key ways:

First, four tentacles sprouted from their octopus-like heads.

In his past life, Midi had seen powerful demons cast mind-related abilities and magic simultaneously, tentacles weaving gestures to unleash devastating combos. Yet as a "newborn," even lifting these tentacles proved difficult.

Second, their signature mind-related abilities.

These required psychic energy, akin to magic for skills. But sensing psychic energy was harder, and abilities triggered with fleeting thoughts—distractions risked misfires or mental backlash.

The first month saw Midi battling clumsy tentacles and accidental skill discharges. In reality, such ineptitude would’ve exposed him. But this trial’s illusion allowed unrestricted practice.

By month’s end, he mastered basics any true demon found effortless.

Psychic Sniping!

Silver glow flashed in Midi’s blank white eyes. Across the room, a giant ground lizard crumpled under the invisible psychic attack.

“Telepathy, psychic explosion, Mind Storm, now psychic sniping.” Core offensive skills acquired.

Midi sighed, using a tentacle to sip coffee from a cup. Being a high-ranking commander had perks.

But peace ended as battles erupted after the first month.

First came dwarves clad head-to-toe in steel armor, followed by swarms of leaping underground goblins, then dark elf assassins and gunners. Wave after wave of enemies emerged from the edges of the Heart-Seizing Demon settlement and attacked.

As the Commander of the Heart-Seizing Demons, Midi wielded immense authority. Having mastered the organizational structure of Heart-Seizing Magicians and servant armies, he commanded with ease. He crushed these invaders without mercy.

The commander even joined the fray personally, unleashing devastating mind-related abilities that mowed down entire groups. By the second month’s end, the invaders had been wiped out in the wilderness without ever glimpsing the settlement.

The Heart-Seizing Demon Council praised Midi’s military merit, rewarding him with vast resources.

The third month brought fiercer assaults.

Well-trained enemy troops now advanced with coordinated tactics, leaving few openings. To minimize losses, Midi trained in advanced mind-related abilities—"mind control," "telepathy," and "mind distortion"—shattering enemies from within without bloodshed.

Elders showered him with praise and resources.

During the fourth month, an alliance struck.

Gray dwarf paladins and dark elf gunners—deadly melee and ranged fighters familiar with Heart-Seizing Demon tactics—formed an unstoppable force. Midi gaped in disbelief. In reality, these races despised each other. Yet here in the illusion, their combined might proved flawless.

Worse, dark elf exorcists countered his mind control with purification skills. Midi now had to control his automatons secretly while masking their movements. After immense struggle, he sowed distrust between the allies, making them turn on each other before annihilating them with his army.

This victory elevated Midi’s mind-related abilities to their peak. Even the Great Elder showed him deference.

The fifth month arrived.

No armies came. Instead, elite guerrilla squads—each led by a Thought Capturer—ambushed resource teams, slaughtering all. The settlement became paralyzed.

Midi stared blankly. He’d entered this trial to become a Thought Capturer, yet now fought them while inhabiting a Heart-Seizing Demon! Baffled but resolute, he vowed to protect his hard-won territory. Survival meant trial success—the illusion’s chaos mattered little.

Conventional tactics failed against guerrilla warfare. Midi handpicked the strongest mages and hunted Thought Capturers in the wilds.

Stripped of his overpowering mind-related abilities, his possessed body felt weak—a mere elemental mage. How he missed his Demon Swordman dual swords, flying skills, and Dragon’s Blood-enhanced physique!

Grumbling changed nothing. To win, Midi pushed his mind-related abilities further. Through countless skirmishes, his skills reached mastery. He dissected how Thought Capturers resisted psychic attacks, exposing flaws.

Finally, he understood.

Thought Capturers were psychic users who’d survived brutal mind-related assaults. Their awakened psychic energy balanced offense and defense, unlike Heart-Seizing Demons’ attack-focused power. Society saw them only as psychic defense specialists due to their weaker attacks.

At their core, Thought Capturers and psychic users differed only in energy application. Normally irreversible, this divide could be bridged by top-tier Thought Capturers wielding unmatched control over psychic energy—allowing shifts between both states!