Chapter 167: Mind Palace

“Enemies right!”

“I got them!”

I slung my M1 Garand around, switching hands and raising my sights as I did. The Steed sped down the trail, hitting what seemed like every bump it could, but even that didn’t deter me from laying down a withering hail of fire on the small group pursuing us. Not that that did much, really; the rest of the Scout troop was behind the group I just dispatched, and to my left was a small army. 

My first target was the Cyclops Scout, its signature glowing eye only serving to make itself a very convenient target. I took a second to steady my aim, feeling the dips and rivets in the road, and put a neat hole straight through its rapidly dimming eye. A perfect shot. 

“Fuck I’m good!”

I laughed and continued shooting the incoming spiked wolves. The two turrets were busy laying into the army to our left, so I had them all to myself. 

Or, mostly anyway. 

Commander Pollux was an Authority Eight warlock that specialized in water. I hadn’t seen him work his magic much because there was little that called for his obscene firepower. Now was one of those times though, and I got a good glimpse into his power. 

Although he was well known for his abilities with water, he had obviously perfected more than one element. His other specialty was earth, and he combined the two with a grace that made him less a man and more a force of nature in this environment. 

Blades flew and lances speared, all made of a brilliantly clear ice, slightly shining even in the long shadows of the pines. When enemies made their way too close, they would either lose their footing and be swallowed by mud or get stuck with the weakly flailing corpses of their comrades and be frozen, made easy victims for the roving blades of ice with too many targets to kill. We were simply able to speed through the entire army because of his work; they couldn’t even touch the path with Pollux on guard. 

I knew I was probably going to need him for this operation, but damn was I glad to have made that decision. 

I was a genius and a crackshot. There was little else I could want, besides my hot delinquent girlfriend. 

Right as I was thinking that and taking aim at another spiked wolf, I pulled my trigger as it scrambled over a boulder, missing it by a hair. And a literal hair too; I could see the little tuft get torn out from the wolf’s back by the passing bullet. 

I frowned, glancing beyond my sight before zoning back in and firing again, nailing the shot. 

“That’s what I thought. You got me thinking I was just lucky! I still love you though.”

I gave my gun a quick peck on the bolt before swapping it for an StG, unloading on the last several wolves that threatened to jump the truck. 

Before they could all pounce though, a wide blade of ice swept through and bisected them all in one go. I stopped firing and glanced over at Pollux, whose upper body was sticking out of another hatch. 

“Thanks, Commander!”

“I have questions about your decision to ride through a populated Scourge route, Captain Cooper!”

I gestured for him to duck back inside for a slightly more legible conversation, divorced from the baying and roaring of the fast-approaching Scourge army. 

“It was the best decision! Trust me! I don’t want to encounter hordes any more than you, but it was either this or Royals!”

I smiled and glanced over. Pollux could only sigh in response. 

Not long after, we managed to clear the intercepting army and speed beyond them. Something screamed at me from behind. 

“Behind!”

“What?”

Pollux spun around right as I did, and we both saw something rise from the floor. 

I had thought it was just a tiny hill, but we both watched as that hill rose from the ground and lifted its massive ass into the sky, propped up on a dozen insectoid legs. 

It’s abdomen then glowed, and from its asshole came a huge projectile of some gel-like substance. I could hear the pressure explode as that substance was launched into the sky, aimed right for us and coming down like an artillery shell. 

I’d never seen or heard of anything like that monstrosity, but I could already tell that it wasn’t good news. 

“Defend!”

Wordlessly, Pollux spread his arms, willing a massive barrier of ice to unfold into the air. His clarity of manipulation was no help here; it only let me better see the greenish gel fast approach us. It seemed to pulse for a second and deform. I decided the hatch was a lot more appealing than discovering what happened when Magika met… toxic sludge artillery. 

The barrier of ice shattered downward like broken glass as the projectile exploded with a massive shockwave. There was no fire, just pure concussive pressure, but more than enough to break down any barrier that dared stand in its way. 

Ice chunks rained on top of the Steed, spearing one of the slower knights in the chest. He quickly disappeared, dragged away by the rest of the team hiding out in the rest of the Steed. 

What I wasn’t spared though was the shockwave. Although it slammed into the ice above, it still shook the Steed and sent a wave of pressure through our bodies. I covered my ears after they started ringing, cringing in pain as my lungs shook. 

The Steed sped on as I dipped back into my seat. Everyone else had dropped down too, except Pollux. 

Thankfully, I didn’t hear another projectile launch, and once we cleared a hill, we were safe anyway. 

Pollux came down, slumping into his seat with a huff. 

I called. 

“Hey, Commander, what the hell was that thing?”

“… I don’t know. I’ve never seen something like that before.”

“Is it some new kind of enemy?”

“I think it might be.”

“I’m calling this in.”

I thought for a second before tapping my Aerial, connecting to Colonel Jasmine’s line. 

“Liaison to Handler, come in.”

“…Go ahead, Liaison.”

“I’ve got a report. We just encountered an unknown Scourge monster. It may be a new type, but either way, it’s heading to the Treehouse.”

“Understood. Give me a description.”

I glanced back before recalling its details. 

“It’s about 40 meters tall, behemoth class. Massive abdomen, about 30 meters tall by itself, connected to a lower main body about 10 meters tall. It’s supported by 12 legs, has a brown-green colored carapace, 8 green eyes on its face, and 4 hanging mandibles. As for its function, it lifts its 30 meter tall abdomen and points it to the sky before firing a large gel-like projectile which arcs and explodes with a concussive shockwave on its target with effective accuracy. I think I might’ve seen some eyes on the end abdomen as well, but I’m not sure about that detail. It also has an effective range of at least 600 meters, most likely much farther. ”

“… Give me a second.”

I waited as Jasmine processed everything. After several seconds her voice came back. 

“Alright, Liaison, I can’t recall any monsters of this description. I think we might’ve found a new species, and it seems powerful. I’m sending this back to Polly so she can send it up to the Marshal. If you can, draw something up and turn it in when you get back. We’ll come up with a full report after that.”

“Understood.”

“Stay safe. Check in one more time before leaving communication range.”

“Will do. Liaison out.”

I set down my Aerial with that before taking out a sheet of paper and the closest thing I had to a pencil. Then I started drawing. I had extra papers from when I was writing for Umara so I just used one of those. 

Given another hour or so I had a good drawing of it. It was only in one color but that was fine. The shape, size, and proportions were all correct. 

I held it up for one last look before handing it to Pollux. 

“How does it look, Commander? Am I an artist or what?”

“Hm, it’s actually good.”

Pollux inspected the drawing, impressed. Some of the others leaned over to look at it too. 

“Yeah, what the hell was that thing?”

“We don’t know. Cooper, what did Colonel Jasmine say?”

“She didn’t recognize it either. It’s most likely a new species.”

“Shit, as if this war wasn’t getting hard enough.”

One of the others let out a long, irritated breath. I agreed, but my thoughts were elsewhere. 

I pulled up my map and found our location on it, referencing that with the location of that thing. 

It was almost morning, so we were about half a day away from the base and our target area. It wasn’t yet far enough to lose contact with Jasmine, which was the only reason I could even squeeze out a report. 

What I was worried about was why these behemoths hadn’t been encountered at the base yet. Why hadn’t the Scourge moved in the heavy artillery? They could bombard the base and their siege would demolish us overnight. Dropping a volley of those while we were sleeping, completely unaware of what was coming? The walls would fall in minutes; the base within the hour. 

The answer I came up with was because they didn’t have enough. One of those things was just a big walking target for a Brigadier like Alois to go in and take out. But if there were a dozen? Three dozen? A hundred of them? And all of them were launching those explosive projectiles from perhaps miles away? Even a single volley could obliterate the infrastructure in the base, killing hundreds. 

So if they were accumulating, then we needed to get ahead and do something before they gathered en masse and launched another siege. 

I wondered if the Snow Doves had found any of those things yet, and whether they killed any. I’d have to ask, and perhaps write up another operation plan to check other places for those things and take them out. The Snow Doves were a powerful group of people at the height of the military, but I was the one with the intelligence. I might actually be able to get them to follow along. 

As our healer went and tended to the injured knight, I quickly started scribbling down a plan of action. If we were going to run another operation, then it needed to be signed off by Polly at least. Might as well start making my case. 

That kept me occupied for a long while. We still had a lot of time before we got to the Snow Doves’ last known location. The only thing I had to do during this time was make sure to check in with Jasmine one last time before I no longer could, which would be in a few hours. 

I checked in, and 10 minutes later, my signal was lost as we went beyond the furthest Aerial repeater. 

Now we were completely on our own. It made me feel nice. I finally felt like I had full control over this operation. Whatever happened now would be completely up to me. 

I smiled and shut down my Aerial. Anything I needed to know was firmly inside my mind. 

I lounged back while having a sudden thought regarding the mind. 

It had been a while since I started making good progress with my advancement formation. I was close to completing the first formation, and, as I studied it and remembered my past formations, I couldn’t help but think about some things from Earth. 

Granted by the power of Psyka, my mind had something like an internal space that I could see. It was where I accessed my Stars and brought out spirits. Right now, it looked like a starry sea with a rushing river going around in circles. This rushing river of my knowledge and power also represented my increased speed of thought. It had turned the stagnant ocean of my mind into something that churned with rapid currents, with which my thoughts flowed.

However, I wondered whether or not that visualization was merely that, just a visualization of what the Call of the Fallen Angel did to me through my advancements, or if it was a very real form that my power took on. Basically, I wondered if it was just a figment of my imagination or the real sight of my power. 

I wasn’t exactly concerned with figuring out the answer to that question though. What I thought of whenever I saw this mind space of mine was one of the most popular and effective memory techniques from Earth. 

The Mind Palace. 

Also called the method of Loci, the Mind Palace was a mnemonic device used to visualize the information within the mind. By associating your knowledge with things like pages in a book on a shelf within a library, or as a cup on a counter within a kitchen, or as a poster on the wall of a hall, you could easily codify and strengthen the memory itself. And by going through your palace and doing something such as opening the book and flipping to the page, you could remember the information you stored there. 

It was something I had found interesting and tried once back on Earth, but I never really took to it, probably because I never cared too much. I never really had issues with memory and never found it necessary. 

But now, when my mind was giving me such grand visualizations as if they came from an actual space within my brain, I couldn’t help but think that this memory technique could become a good way to codify everything and strengthen my mind further. It would give my mind more shape. 

Question was, how would I go about doing that? Was it as simple as imagining it? Or would I have to utilize things like the advancement formations to change the space?

I’d have to ask Maxwell about it when I got the chance. In the meantime though, I started brainstorming. After all, I understood the previous formations and their functions. If I started taking things into my own hands, perhaps I could develop a formation of my own and see if it did anything. 

So that’s what I did. While relaxing in my seat, I brought up my hand and let my Aura loose. Psyka bloomed in the form of light blue lines that formed into the circuits of all my advancement formations so far in the air before me. 

Then, I started picking out the formations that I thought would change the shape or visualization of what was in my mind. I put them together in familiar and novel ways, using my understanding of each and every building block of my advancement formations to test and create different arrangements that served different functions. 

Before long, I had a few prototypes, as well as a reason to use that Orb I bought a while back. It appeared from my storage in my hand, and my prototype formations were quickly inscribed within, taking but a few seconds to do so. 

Then, I tilted my head and dumped a chunk of my Psyka into the air around those formations. I used that to mimic my mind space, activating the prototype formation and seeing what it did to the environment around it. 

The first formation I made was supposed to merely cause a sea of Psyka to churn a bit, like adding slow currents to a pool. And when activated, there was indeed turbulence. But my formation wasn’t right. There were obvious errors, so I quickly tweaked them and tried again and again. 

It took a while and a couple hundred retries, but eventually, I managed to do it. The environment of Psyka around the formations started slowly rumbling, almost like it was boiling, all centered around the formation floating in the middle, pulsing with a gentle white light. 

Getting the Psyka to move wasn’t as simple as adding some energy to a liquid. Psyka was a magical energy unlike anything in the physical world. A knight had Vigor, which was of the body. A warlock had mana, which was of the elements and material around them. 

A summoner had Psyka, the power of the mind. There was no doubt that it was the most elusive of them all. After all, the mind, intelligence, knowledge, wisdom, and all other aspects of what could be considered the ‘mind’ weren’t so easily grasped. It was no different from Earth’s scientists trying to understand the brain. 

I could certainly understand why summoners had a hard time achieving the highest level of power. It was a daunting task to understand the mind. But I was sure that there were many more before my time that were far smarter and had been capable of elevating their minds with Psyka to unbelievable levels. The fact that even those people were unable to crack the code left me feeling like it was impossible for me to do so. I was no genius, just someone who was able to take perfect advantage of the sheer power of Maxwell’s Call. 

Well, those dilemmas were for another time. 

The issue right now was that it was difficult to get Psyka to do anything. The instructions had to be very specific. Two symbols that looked almost identical could have very different outcomes, and instruction sets needed to be both perfect and all-encompassing. If there were any missing instructions that failed to complete a proper formation, then it simply collapsed, wouldn’t function, or act all wacky.

Thankfully, summoners were good at paying attention to detail. Every formation I’d completed and perfected required that. If I couldn’t do that much, I wouldn’t be where I was now. 

Unfortunately, creating something new was very different and much harder than understanding an established concept. Fortunately I had the full power of mind enhancement afforded by my accumulated power up to this point. I was at least able to do things quickly, changing up formations on the fly and testing them just as rapidly. 

Before long, there were three dozen formations in front of me, all of them almost completely unique beyond a shared memory glyph. I used what I knew, but ultimately I was shooting for something very different than anything I’d done before. 

At some point though, I latched onto one particular success. 

One formation I activated, one that was by far the largest and most complex, suddenly solidified the surrounding Psyka into a barely identifiable shape. Its function was off and didn’t make the cube I wanted, but the fact that it could form a shape at all meant that it was a success. 

For this formation I utilized some of the principles that allowed me to form my Spark. The Spark was the most significant solidification of Psykic power in my mind, and the perfect guide to forming something tangible like a mind palace. 

It looked like I was on the right track. I did a few more tests and eventually, after draining a good amount of my Psyka and tiring my brain a bit, I managed to get it to form a cube like I wanted. 

Then I created a few formations to make other shapes, attempting to piece together larger and more varied forms. Even more importantly, I wanted to be able to inscribe information into what I built. A mind palace was nothing without the knowledge that would fill it. I wanted to make sure that it wasn’t just a cool shape my power took, but something that could bring together all the memories that constituted who I was. 

Before I could even start on doing that though, I felt a tap on my outstretched leg. My eyes snapped away from my formations, quickly inscribing everything within my Orb before diverting my focus and looking at one of my squadmates across from me. 

My few remaining formations vanished so I could see him. Then I heard another voice. Pollux’s.

“We’re here, Cooper.”

“Oh.”

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