Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 186 The Descendant of the Snake
Rean is quite welcoming to the "kids" who have moved in.

He sensed that these were all seemingly pure-hearted young people, confirming that Rean's mental abilities were operating in a strange way.

Rean seemed to be able to vaguely sense whether the other party had goodwill or malice.

Based on some information I've heard, this seems to be a common, albeit rudimentary, manifestation of psychic abilities.

This made him hesitate, wondering if he should specifically elevate it to an extraordinary profession, as he felt it was much more useful than most psychic abilities.

"The Mind Spark is burning now, but it will go out. Besides, it's only because the other party trusts you (that you're a paladin). Mind abilities not only have to withstand the other party's resistance, but they're also quite disadvantageous."

The snake, however, had a different opinion.

In his view, mind control spells and mind invasion abilities are actually the least cost-effective type. They are very effective at bullying the weak, but the strong generally have strong minds and consciousness, so the success rate and actual combat effect are very subtle. Even the weak may encounter individuals with strong wills, and the "hypnotist" often suffers inexplicable setbacks.

Unlike in some novels, unless you put a tadpole on someone like a mind flayer and put a collar on them, this kind of control is usually temporary. The person who is awakened from being controlled will definitely fight you to the death. And the mind manipulation technique that makes the other person forget a specific task involves the most difficult mental manipulation, which is very difficult to achieve.

If long-term control is truly desired, a "mind network" is necessary, which would require a powerful "server," such as the mind flayer's mainframe.

This is why solitary mind control mages and telekinetics like Suliman have always struggled with practical combat skills.

More often than not, they serve as support in the team; rather than attacking opponents, they focus on controlling the battlefield and buffing their teammates.

But if it's used for crime and personal gain, that's a different story.
"Any suggestions?" When it comes to mental abilities, even the world's strongest psychic might not be a match for the snake.

Professionals who have mastered authority can be considered as administrators of the world server, and the snake's skills and knowledge in this regard have been honed over countless years, possessing a complete power system of its own.

"Don't be greedy. I mean you can develop in multiple professions, so don't expect to do too much with a single profession. The more you specialize in a particular function in a certain profession, the better it will suit you. It's best to specialize in only one thing in a profession." As he spoke, the snake revealed a happy smile.

He always looked down on other spiritual beings, seeing them as a bunch of people who couldn't handle too much at once.

"Look at the mind sorcerers, who claim to be all-powerful, using their mental abilities to imitate the spells of other mages, but they are completely incompetent and utterly useless."

The versatility of psychic abilities has led many psychic professions to attempt to become all-rounders, but the results have been only subtle. In recent years, the most famous psychic superhuman in the prime plane has actually been a mind flayer relying on psychic technology, which is a tragedy for the entire profession system.

Of course, powerful psychic professionals and psychic beings have always existed, but they are not ordinary superhumans. Many of them are otherworldly psychic races that form their own "races" and are not weak at all. Snake groups can be considered one of them, as can mind flayers and Geese. Astral feathered serpents and astral Leviathans are also very outrageous superhuman psychic beings.

They also tend to specialize in their own racial evolutionary path, and none of them ever try to be as omnipotent as a psionicist.

It is also because powerful individuals have their own paths that the inherently inferior orc psychic abilities seem even less effective, and the snake does not recommend that Rean spend too much energy on this path.

"Even if you accidentally awaken your psychic abilities, your talent in this area is only average. I suggest you simply give up or, like Masked Dragon Knight, find a special psychic-type advancement that is strong at the first or second tier and does not exist at the higher tiers, nurture your psychic power and let it grow gradually."

Psychic abilities have many flaws, but they have one redeeming quality: their support capabilities are very strong and will continue to grow alongside the user's own development, requiring no special attention. To put it bluntly, there's no point in trying to manage or train them.

That's a typical example of letting it advance on its own.

Do you have any suitable recommendations?

"No, I can't." The snake remained smug. With supersonic fighter jets available, who would bother learning to fly propeller-driven aircraft?

He genuinely didn't know how, and had barely done any research before. There weren't any reliable mentalists in his timeline's main plane either. He had done some research these past few days, but not for the sake of the stinky man in front of him.

Yes, that's right. The snake sees "itself" as if it were looking at a stinky man, and it can't like him at all.

However, he didn't want to see Rean die so quickly. He was still waiting to see what would happen; the landmines he had just planted hadn't even detonated yet.

"My personal suggestion is that you focus your attention on defensive mental abilities. Since you've already started building armor, continuing to do so is the safest bet."

Psychic abilities originate from the power of interference from consciousness. Their effects gradually weaken when outside the body and are heavily reliant on the opponent's resistance. However, when inside one's own body, they are 200% effective.

Using it for defense might not be the best choice for Rean, but it's definitely the right choice.

Rean's expression was a little subtle. He really wanted to walk like in the movies, floating around and talking inside the other person's head all the time.

As the same person, the snake saw through him at a glance. He laughed.

"I do have a profession here that fits your actual needs. It seems that its main functions are support and defense."

"Didn't you say no?"

"It wasn't available before, it only came out in the last two days. Once my disciple has perfected it, you can go and learn from her yourself."

After saying that, the snake visibly faded away and disappeared, leaving Rean completely bewildered.

"Disciple? When did you take on a disciple? Did you take on one in the last few days?!" Li En was completely dumbfounded.

But why would the snake respond to this fool? He was also eager to know what kind of sprout his spur-of-the-moment seed would produce in the next few days.

Are you expecting Rean to start a new career?

He simply doesn't have that ability (in tone)!!

As an adult, his thoughts are too scattered and chaotic; it's impossible for him to dedicate his entire life to sticking to one particular path.

A career is a life, something that requires a lifetime of effort and energy to write. Rean could never do that.

This can be considered the original "Lee Eun-suk's" inherent weakness: he is not "pure" enough. Having already filled up his Earth, he is destined not to be a qualified pioneer.

However, those ragtag individuals with mixed otherworldly talents and fragmented memories were able to completely integrate into the clans and eras of that time, and on the soil of that civilization, they used their lives and otherworldly talents to sprout new buds.

However, the original Lee Eun-suk was not without his advantages.
"'Chameleon' was never a good pioneer, but she was a perfect user and integrator. Once she's paved the way, let Rean play with her."

The snake gleefully traversed the void, searching for its disciple.

"He should be able to come up with some new tricks, maybe even something that will surprise everyone."

The next moment, the snake, its tongue flicking, appeared simultaneously on the tables in all three rooms. He didn't mention that he had only accepted one experimental disciple.

Kuku was always interested in things from the new era, leaving behind a lot of notes and research ideas. The greedy and curious snake had just as many interests.

"Kamen Rider Ryuki is obviously a martial arts practitioner, you idiot. Try this Rider Kick. Shout out the moves, don't be ashamed. Kill your opponent, and you won't be ashamed anymore!"

"Are you stupid?! You use psionic weapons to chop people up? Do you think you're a Force warrior? I think you're a dummy! Come on, try casting a spell with this thing, start with a Force lightning bolt! Idiot, you actually electrocuted yourself!"

"Hiss hiss hiss (Idiot, idiot, idiot. How come you're asleep again? How can you sleep at your age!)"

At the same time, he began to force his three disciples to work overtime.

Only one road? Isn't that a bit disrespectful to snakes?

Lee Eun-suk, who is both a beast indulging in desires and a greedy man, will definitely want it all.

With his mastery of mental abilities, he is quite adept at "accelerating" things to maturity.

Moreover, he can constantly see the future possibilities of these "experiments," make constant adjustments, and force them to succeed, even if you don't have any mental abilities right now.

"Huh? That adventurer's kid also has psychic talent. Hmm, that's interesting. Let's plant another one next to Rean." So, he split off a fourth snake, preparing to activate the other's psychic abilities ahead of time.

The aftereffects of disrupting cause and effect? ​​Aren't all these disciples karmically connected to Rean? I'll just leave it to him!
As for how they will eventually become indebted to each other, their karmic relationship tangled in a mess, does that have anything to do with him already running away?!
Meanwhile, Rean could only breathe on the spot where the snake had disappeared. This thing was impossible to tame and made no attempt to hide its disdain for him.

"Tsk, I've also developed some applications of my mental abilities, so don't look down on me."

But his words were not entirely unanswered; where the snake disappeared, a middle finger appeared, a gesture of contempt.

But Rean was telling the truth. In his recent practice, he had combined the eyes of the Snake of Desire and the Dragon Eye to create a set of "predictive sword techniques".

It involves using the long-sightedness and observation of the dragon's eye in advance, combined with the snake's eye's ability to lock onto the target's "aggressive desire" and "defensive desire," to predict the opponent's moves and defenses in advance, thus completely outmaneuvering one's opponent.
"Come again!!"

The dwarf warriors in this adventurer's party were already furious.

He can accept losing, but he cannot accept losing without even being able to touch his opponent, especially when the opponent is a paladin who is even more "clumsy" than a warrior!
Rean smiled with interest, "You want to play with me and practice swordsmanship with me? Of course you can."

The dwarf warriors' wide-ranging attack style is very suitable for prediction. In actual combat, Rean would probably only need seven or eight sword strikes to take off the opponent's head.

If you're willing to take one, or even three, blows, that's enough.

"This is a complete victory in terms of combat experience; this senior has been through countless battlefields."

For young adventurers, this only makes Rean's legendary background seem more real.

"Your friend is bad! Bullying Uncle Dwarf!" Rean, who bullied others, also got his comeuppance, which made the team laugh.

Even the dwarf, who was so angry he was puffing out his beard and glaring, laughed the loudest.

But what happened next made him stop laughing.

The little guy went on stage with a wooden stick and actually performed even better than the dwarf!

That steady and swift swordsmanship, that instinctive seizing of opportunity like a born beast, even made the dwarf feel that he would be easily crushed if he went up to her, even though he knew that his own physical abilities could easily defeat this little girl.

Rean, forced to defend himself by her, was pleasantly surprised to find a weakness in his new technique.

For such pure and persistent martial artists, knowing that their goal does not determine victory or defeat, their swift and life-risking actions are never meant to be concealed.

With each sword strike, Lana moved with extraordinary purity, as if wielding the sword was everything to her.

Her goal cannot be hidden, nor does it need to be. Even though she is weak now, she still has the confidence to crush her opponent.

But this, ironically, allowed Rean to find what he was looking for.

"Interesting. So its greatest function is not to evade the opponent's attack, but to assist one's own attack."

Rean suddenly swung his sword, forcing his opponent to instinctively defend himself and reveal his weakness!

Then let's go on the offensive! Force the opponent into a defensive stance!
My armor is thicker than yours; it can evade your fatal attacks and see through your weaknesses! Let's see who dies first!
Even with a wooden sword and a wooden stick, and despite deliberately suppressing his strength and speed, Rean still demonstrated his talent for developing his abilities, making each strike more dangerous than the last.

"Crack!" Inadvertently, Rean used too much force and broke Lana's "sword" with his wooden sword.

She looked at the broken wooden stick and began to sob softly.

Then, suppressing her sobs, she squatted down, hugging her knees.

This, ironically, made Rean, who had earned the title of "the one who made the little girl cry," feel heartbroken.

"Don't cry, don't cry, little Lana, you can ride a big horse!" Rean glanced at the centaur still wrapped in bandages, then turned his gaze to the other one.

"Let's ride the dwarf."

"No, Uncle Dwarf smells of mud!" Uncle Dwarf, who was about to lower his head, stopped and instantly looked disappointed.

This is probably even more heartbreaking than the fact that his swordsmanship is inferior to that of a little girl.

Rean, who was being stared at by the little girl with teary eyes, sighed and lowered his body.

"Let's make this clear first, you're not allowed to tell anyone else. Tsk, who taught you that?" Rean had already seen through it; this little girl was faking her tears.

"But this is another Sister Suliman who taught me!"

(End of this chapter)