Hi, guys, before the chapter, there's something i have to do

????: And that is sharing my wisdom with you!

Uh.... yes, now, as agreed, if i do this, you won't bother my lore section and comments for at least 5 chapters

????: How about i don't bother the lore section for 10 chapters?

.... I guess that's a bit better.... Ok, now, what is it that you want to say?

????: No, no, YOU have to to ask what you want to know!

Fine, then, first thing, and since there won't be a better time to ask... how the ACTUAL FUCK, do you have sex with a ghost, more precisely, a banshee?

????: Well, first you have to begin the discussion by complimenting her voice, and from there-"

NO, not how to GET to fuck them... how... like, dude they're immaterial, how does that work?

????: Oh, thaaat! Well, that's... not possible unless you have good control over mana.

Meaning....?

????: Well, a ghost's "body" is formed by mana that merged with their soul, due to the fact that the soul didn't pass on for some reason, and to keep surviving the soul has to absorb mana, either the one that is all around us, like air, but is very weak, or the one inside other beings, which is much more powerful.

Jesus, are we actually explaining lore by asking how do you get laid?

????: Yes, that's how awesome i am. Anyway, normally, a ghost can't be touched, because the body is made of mana, and not even a mage can manipulate it, because it's not normal mana, since it's mixed with the soul. So, the only way to touch them is to connect your soul and mana, and putting them on the same "flow" of the ghost.

Flow?

????: The flow of mana. Basically, it's how the mana moves in their body. A ghost bound by rage will have a much faster and chaotic flow, while a ghost bound by sadness will have a slower, circular and orderly flow. The latter is the case for the banshees.

That's interesting.... but what happens if you mess up the connection or the flow?

????: If you mess up the connection, your soul will explode and become a bodiless abomination whose only wish is to absorb mana.

OH, THAT'S FUCKING DANGEROUS! AND YOU DO IT JUST TO GET LAID?!?

????: Yep, and it's wooooooorth it. Anyways, if you mess up the flow, you're basically gonna have an emotional crisis.

Well, at least it's not lethal.

????: I said everything about ghosts, now anything else?

Your "comrade" AlicePandora, said that Lamias are the best, what do you think about it?

????: I think that Lamias are one of the most lovable races in existence! I mean, even if it's just a random one night stand, they make you fell like the most important person in the world! They constantly cuddle you with their tail, and when you're enveloped by it.... you just feel so safe.... Also, the sex on the ceiling is freaking amazing.

....I beeeeeet.....

????: You're just jealous! And the cutest thing is that they're so shyyyyyyy, and when they get over it they're so beautiful and loyal!

Ok, i get it, i get it, perfect wives. Now the last thing, Ia Shub-Niggorath, who somehow deals with a thousand children chose Dullahans. What is your opinion on it?

????: Good choice indeed. Multitasking is their thing, that's what i love about them!

They just have a separated head, i mean, cool, but it's not that amazing.

????: That's what YOU think! You have no idea what they can do!

And i don't want to know, since it's provably way too perverted.

????: What are you talking about. I mean, they just have one extra h-

NO! NO! NO! I CAN'T HEAR YOU! LALALALALALALALALA! LET'S GET TO THE STORY!

????: Come on, it's not what you think! That part is made of mana!

I DON'T CAREEEEEEE! YOU'RE THE MOST PERVERTED MAN I EVER MET!

????: I never said i was either a man or a woman! Though, even a woman can enjoy a-

THIS ENDS HERE! STORY! ANDREW! RAT DRAMA!

"Well, time to get to work i guess"

Andrew was in front of a slum pub. It was there he would start to find a method to free the Kradlaits from their madness. What the pervert said was right, he had to clean his own mess. After losing sight of him he slept in a random alley, thankfully with his abilities he rested in a comfortable dark sphere, which was invisible, so as to avoid problems. When the evening arrived, and after exploring the slums, he went to the nearest and shittiest den of thugs he could find, to train his [Mind Control] ability. From what he understood what made most of the Creakers go insane was their natural instincts to follow darkness, and he deduced that instincts were something that depended neither on the mind nor on the soul, but were something in between. As such, the only way to change them or even eliminate them was to first master one of these two. Since soul manipulation seemed way too complicated and the risk was much higher, Andrew decided to master [Mind Magic], at least to a certain level. He planned to completely remove any kind of self-control from the first person he found, since to erase instinct would have not been an easy feat and there was already similar magic to make people go savage, like berserk, so to do it with [Mind Magic] would have been much simpler, and also a good training. The second step was to see how it would go, though he knew it would have been harder that giving simple orders.

He entered the pub and the gaze of everyone inside immediately went in his direction. All gazes of greed, malice and pettiness. Every single person in that place was dressed in rags, stank like rotten meat and had at least a few bloodstains on their clothes. He sit in a corner table, where there was less people, ordered a beer even if he wouldn't have drank it and waited. It was a short wait, since after barely ten minutes three men were already walking in his direction, clearly drunk and wanting to mess with the weakest looking person in there, and rudely sat with him.

"Hello *burp* kid, what ya doin all alone in this place?"

"Resting"

"Oh, really? Do you want to keep resting?"

"If i can"

"Then why don't you give us a bit of money? We'll make sure you can rest easy"

"Jesus, does every thug use this phrase?"

"Wha-"

Two of the men fell on the table, covering the stains of beer and vomit in a sea of blood.

"Huh? Guys?"

The man that remained checked on one of his friends and saw that his forehead had a hole in it.

"Lux!"

"Now, now, calm down, buddy"

Andrew put his Andrew on the man's face, who was clearly horrified and confused by what was happening. The boy tried to search his mind, he didn't have to take over it this time, he had to break something, something important. Finally he found that something, under the form if a barrier. That must have been it. He broke it and he immediately let go of the thug's mind. He grabbed him and threw him in the middle of the pub, hoping that he had managed to do it.

"Hey, you ok?"

"Damn, rough"

Someone came to help him. They turned towards Andrew.

"YOU LITTLE SHIT! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!?"

"I'M GONNA G-AAAAAAAAARGH"

The one that was on the floor suddenly bit one of his friends in the leg, then proceeded to throw him on the bar counter.

"WHAT THE FUCK! WE'RE YOUR F- UGH!"

The thug that spoke had his skull crushed by a table leg that the frenzied literally ripped off.

"It worked! Just because of that, i'll remember you, and since i don't know your name, you are now Bob"

Bob took the table leg and finished off the guy he threw by beating him to death. All the other people began to try to kill him, but whoever came had his head crashed, his arms broken, and generally was ripped apart. Not even the pub's owner was an exception. Ironically Bob killed him with a bottle. When the job was done the he began to look at Andrew angrily.

"RRRRRRRRGH... AAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

He began running at him, but Andrew simply punched him in the face, choice he would regret, since it sunken completely into his brains.

"Oh, oh, shit, oh, goddammit that's freaking disgusting. How the hell will i clean it?!?"

He removed his fist from the remains of his test subject and began to analyze him: even though he easily killed everyone inside, he was clearly fatally wounded, having his arms and legs broken, some ribs sticking out, and even some knives stabbed into his shoulders. From this Andrew could understand that his magic not only removed his self-control, but his strength limitation too, releasing his full power, but severely damaging the body. Since the only thing he manipulated was his self-control, it seemed that he honestly would have beaten to death everyone in the pub if he had the chance to do so. Better sooner than later.

He decided to continue elsewhere, but he knew that if he caused too many of these slaughters, there would have been problems. He was about to go, when he heard a voice:

"Help! Is anybody there? Please help us!"

It was faint, but hearable if any other sound was shut off. He tried to follow the voice, which was coming from a door behind the counter. He opened the door and stumbled onto a set of stairs.

"Stairs leading to a basement. Hope this doesn't become a habit"

He walked down, once again ending up on an hallway full of cells. This time though, there was somebody in them. Every cell was full of men and women, all dressed with dirty rags and without light in their eyes.

"THANK LUX! YOU'RE NOT ONE OF THEM ARE YOU?!?"

"No, i'm not. And you, are you....?"

"Yes, we're slaves, we've all been captured by a slaver know as Hasl. We've been here for days, please free us!"

"Free us!"

"Help me!"

"Ok, i'll help you, but i have one question"

"...What?"

"Is there somebody who lost his mind?"

".....Well, yes. There"

One of the slaved pointed to the farthest cell to the right side of the hallway. There were more or less seven men, but they were all chained to the wall, moving and banging like trapped animals.

"They have been tortured for Hasl's amusement. They have lost their mind, they're like animals now.... but why do you care?"

"First of all, is anybody here familiar with them?"

"No"

"Not me"

"I doubt it.... they've been here for much longer than us...."

"Well, i could manage to cure them"

Everyone began looking at him in confusion and disbelief.

"Listen, it doesn't matter to any of you, right? So are the city guards gonna help you if you escaped? I'm not from Kieris so i don't know"

"They'll help us, after all slavery is illegal in Kieris...."

"Ok then, you think you can get out of the slums?"

"I'm from here, so i know"

"Me too"

"There's like ten people from this area, so we're golden"

"Ok, then, get out and separate into groups, you would cause too much of a commotion together"

Andrew destroyed all of the bars of the cells, and the slaves ran away with haste, while still thanking their savior. He heard some screams, probably due to the spectacle of the pub, but they quickly ended. When he was sure he was alone he broke into the cell of the insane men. He got close to one of them, who immediately tried to bite him, but couldn't even move a millimeter forward due to a shackle on his neck. Andrew began to explore his mind.

"Don't worry buddy, this can only make you feel better"

When he entered Andrew found pure chaos, like jumping in the middle of a stormy sea, filled with cries of agony and desperation. This time, he had to fix, instead of break, an obviously harder task. While he wandered into the man's mind he could see scenes of torture and pain.... his memories: a fat and expansively dressed man, with a thin blonde mustache and some ridiculous XVI century hair, kept insulting and beating him, then picked up various tools of torture and used them on him.

"Oh, you little inferior dog, scream, scream for my amusement! SCREAAAAAM!"

Andrew could ear his high-pitched, annoying, disgusting voice, filled with the most petty malice he ever felt and heard.

"Your wife is dead, so is your child! And that just because you couldn't pay a measly debt! How pathetic and disappointing! I bet your family is happy that an useless cockroach like you won't bother them anymore!"

"SHUT UP!"

The man head butted the slaver, making fall on his ass. Andrew never felt so much satisfaction, and he didn't even do it himself.

"You..... you know, when i was done with you, i would have sold you and then that would have been it, but nooooooo. You had to ruin my fun, you dirty piece of dog shit. Now, now, i'm gonna have to use this on you!"

Hasl took a strange pink-violet crystal from his pocket.

"Now, you dumb fuck, don't even think this is as pleasant as it looks!"

The crystal released a light, then the memories ended. It seemed that crystal was the cause of this man's insanity. Andrew realized that he had found what was broken. He tried to mend it together with all his strength, but it was hard. It's like it refused to come back as a whole, like something forced it to stay like it was. But he would not give up, after all, while this was mainly for the Kradlaits, he still felt sorry for this man. Having his family killed, then being tortured for someone's amusement, he was surprised that a magic item was needed to make him go insane. He concentrated all of his mana and mental strength in one point that caused the chaos in the man's mind. Everything around HIM was chaotic and slowly destroying itself, but finally, he did it, it was fixed. He let the man go to see the effects.

"....Huh..... where am i? Who.... who are you? WHERE'S HASL? WHERE IS HE?!?"

"Calm down, i don't know. What i do know is that you're cured"

"Cured? What do you mean?"

"Hasl used some strange crystal to make you go insane"

"WHAT?!? SO THAT'S WHAT IT W- Wait, does that mean... you cured insanity?"

"Yeah, that's what i said"

"I see, so you're a dark mage.... Only your kind would dwell in such forbidden territory. So, what do you want? My soul? My life? My blood?"

"I want you to get out of here and never talk about this"

"What? Just that?"

"You kinda were my test subject, so, yeah. Now if you'll excuse me, gotta finish the job"

Andrew broke his bindings with his fists and went to the side of another one of the prisoners, but the man didn't go away.

"What, you're not going?"

"No, i want to see how it works"

"Ok then. What's your name?"

"Didn't you find it while you were messing with my head?"

"Not really"

"It's Epid"

"Andrew's mine. Nice to meet you"

".....Nice to meet you"

Andrew used the same procedure with all the other men, but two of them were too far gone to do anything, so he had to finish them. The others seemed to be sleeping, probably due to the fact that the shock was bigger for them than it was for Epid, or maybe he was just mentally strong. He decided to ask.

"Epid, were you an adventurer, a soldier...?"

"I was a templar captain"

"A captain? Did anybody search for you?"

"I doubt it... i was exiled from the Templar Order"

"Why?"

"Aren't you asking too many questions to an enemy?"

"As long as you didn't try to kill me, or you are a bastard, or it's for my survival, you're not my enemy. Anyway, i'll stop asking then. I'm feeling very tired"

Andrew sit down on the cold floor of the cell, almost on the verge of sleeping.

".... I was possessed by a demon...."

"What?"

"I was possessed by a demon during one of my missions, that's why i was exiled"

"Wait, they can't really blame you for that, can they? Demons can even break the strongest mind"

"Yes, and normally i would have been purified and made rest for some months, but the upper echelon of the Church didn't like me, so they used it as an excuse of weakness, or bullshit like that. The point is, i was too prestigious to kill, not prestigious enough to be left alone"

"Damn... you had it rough"

"Yes.... though you're quite.... normal"

"For a dark mage?"

"Exactly..... all the ones i met were either insane or just plain evil"

"The world is beautiful because it's diverse"

"That's.... quite a charming view actually"

"Anyway, i'm done here"

"Really? What are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to help some friends of mine, while you help these poor bastards get out of here, even if some of them are not exactly innocent"

"Fine by me....Uhm, any chance we meet again?"

"I though you didn't like me?"

"That was just an exaggeration, from what i've seen you're pretty decent"

"Tha-"

"What? What's the matter?"

"Someone's coming. Hide"

They hid behind the cell walls, awaiting for the arrival of whoever was coming. It didn't take much time for a familiar voice to be heard.

"WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!? WHERE ARE MY SLAVES?!? MY PROPERTY?!? DAMN IT! DAMN IT!"

"Boss, please ca-"

One of the men was suddenly hit with a cane to the stomach.

"CALM DOWN?!? HOW CAN I CALM DOWN YOU LITTLE TURD?!? MY PROPERTY'S GONE! MY MONEY! MY DEALS! WHO'S GONNA PAY FOR THIS?!? WHO TOOK MY PROPERTY?!?"

Andrew and Epid realized immediately who it was. Hasl had come back to check on his business. And they knew exactly what to do. Andrew used [Shadow Step] to get behind his guards and killed them all easily with Perditor, leaving the slaver alone and defenseless.

"UH?!? WHO ARE YOU?!? WHAT DO YOU WANT?!?"

"Me? I want nothing. You should ask him"

Hasl turned around. Just behind him was Epid.

"Hi Hasl, been a while, uh?"

"Ho-how?!? I USED THE CRYSTAL?!?"

"Oh, regarding that..."

Andrew quickly searched the fatty's pockets and found the crystal.

"I could find use for this later"

"HEY THAT'S MINE!"

"Not so fast, piggy"

Epid grabbed him by the collar and threw him in one of the cells.

"Andrew, go away while you can. This won't be pretty, and you've already done enough"

"....As you wish then, i'll take my leave"

"WAIT! HELP ME! I CAN PAY YOU! A LOT! JUST KILL HIM!"

"Instead of asking me for help, ask him to kill you quickly"

"UUUUUH?!? NO, WA-MMMPHMPHMPMH"

Epid put his foot on the slaver's mouth. He was smirking.

"See you later Andrew"

"See you later"

Andrew left the pub, leaving Epid to his well deserved revenge. He wondered what to do. While he may have gotten better with [Mind Magic] he didn't think he was ready yet.

"Hey, kiddo"

"Oh, Murgin, what's the matter?"

"Absorb that crystal"

"What do you mean absorb?"

"If you absorb it, your proficiency in [Mind Magic] will augment"

"Really? But this thing is only good for breaking minds"

"No, no, no, that idiot just didn't know how to use it properly. That thing can do any type of [Mind Magic]"

"Really?"

"It's a Mana Crystal, meaning it can either contain mana or actual magic"

"That's convenient"

"Indeed. But one that has such a level of magic is pretty rare, i wonder how such a shitty slaver got it"

"It doesn't really matter now"

"...No....no it doesn't. Anyway, just use [Mana Absorption]"

Andrew casted it and he could feel the mana of the crystal flowing into him, along with a little bit of knowledge.

"I.... think it worked"

"It DID work, now, go help those rats. No one likes zealots, no one. Apart from their leaders of course"

"Bye Murgin"

"Bye Andrew"

Andrew finished the communication and headed to the sewers. It took him a while to reach the entrance to the part of the sewers he knew, but from there he easily reached the Altar. There were Kradlaits praying both to it and Andrew himself, which made him quite uncomfortable. While he was wandering around Rakhs came out to him, still looking stressed.

"Hi..... Andrew, what do you need? As you see.... things got... strange and messy. At least some of them remained normal though"

"I understand Rakhs, but i have to show you something. Ehm, sorry, you over there, come here!"

One of the Creakers quickly crawled to Andrew, trembling from excitement.

"Does the savior need me?!? It is SUCH an honor, i swear i'l-"

"Sorry, don't like that shit"

Andrew infiltrated in the Kradlait's mind, slowly and carefully going deeper and deeper, and the further he descended the greater the darkness. Just being there gave an enormous amount of fatigue to him, every second harder than the last. It took him great concentration and effort, but he finally reached the source of the darkness: a pulsating black core, screaming and flinching at his every movement.

"Time for you to go buddy"

He tried to erase it, but the retaliation was heavy, menacing to destroy him instead of the core. This time he knew that further mana wouldn't have helped, it would have just fed it, so he relied only on his own power. It was a fight of raw strength and determination, contrarily to most mind battles, not that there were many of them. After a struggle worthy of being told in legends, Andrew was finally managing to erase the evil influence of the Mad Devil.

"Christ, do i have to do this every time?!?"

"Nope"

"MURGIN?!? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?"

"Deus ex machina, my little friend. [Amplify Effect]"

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!?"

"It doesn't matter, just end that fucker, then you'll see"

"GODDAMMMMIIIIIIIIT!"

Andrew put all his remaining energy into one last attack, and then finally, silence. He had won. He, a seventeen years old boy (with over the top and convenient powers) defeated the power of a Devil. Nothing could compare to such a feat, apart from the defeating the Devil itself. He had done it. He save the Kradlait from themselves, he had fixed his mess. The pervert was, as much as he hated to admit it, right. He expected to have to do this tens of times, but when he returned to reality, every zealot had returned to normal. Rakhs was confusedly looking around.

"W-wait, what happened? Guys?"

"Hey... boss, i fell strange......"

"Uh, wha, why i'm a kneeling to Andrewthing?"

"What happened?"

"Why do i have blackened clerictinghies?"

Rakhs smiled like a child when he realized what happened.

"MY BOYS, YOU'RE BACK! I MISSED YOU, YOU CRAZY PLAGUE LOVERS!"

He began hugging everything on sight, not even normal rats were an exception.

"Boss..... it's tiiiiiight...... let me.... go"

"I'm..... suffocating..."

"RUN! THE BOSS'S GONE INSANE!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! YEAH! MY BOY ANDREW"

"PLEASE DON'T HUG ME, HAVE MERCY!"

"THANK YOU! YOU SAVED THESE GUYS FROM THEMSELVES! I THOUGH THAT WAS IMPOSSIBLE!"

"Well, i had to fix my mess, didn't i?"

"And you did, greatly too! I think it worked even on those that weren't turned!"

"I guess now i can leave you to yourself then"

"Wait, are ya serious?"

"What do you mean?"

"Isn't this the part where we conquer the surface?"

"....No, i'm sorry, you'll have to wait for that"

"But.... the Deathstormer..... the power of the Altar...."

"You'll still have to wait"

".... Booooooooooo. Just, booooooooooooo"

".... I'll just leave then..."

Andrew turned back to return to the surface, when his arm was grabbed by Rakhs.

"Something else?"

"My lad..... i gotta say.... thank you, really for all you've done. You're the greatest thing that almost killed us. If it wasn't for you, we would have cowered in these sewers till the end of our days, and if you didn't come back..... these guys would still be insane, so, yeah, from the bottom of my black, poisonous, disease inducing heart..... thank you"

".....You're welcome"

Andrew went on his way, greeting every Creaker he met, then after a while returned to the surface. It was night, even darker than the last one. He felt peaceful with himself.

"I fixed it pervert, i fixed it"

"Then your name really is Felix"

"I regret everything"

The pervert was hiding in the shadow of the alley, once again unseen, but this time his voice could be clearly hear, even though it was very distorted.

"Don't say that, you did it! What did i tell you?"

"I guess you were right, thank you..... So, how did it go with the ladies that needed your love?"

"Oh, that? It was more like a catchphrase, but it went well: one orchess, two twin werewolves and a fallen angel. A good day indeed!"

"You just had to answer well, but, whatever"

"Hey, instead of that sass, you should ask me how to get laid!"

"Yes, ask the the repeated sex offender"

"HEY! I'VE BEEN ACCUSED ONLY FIVE TIMES! WHICH IS RELATIVELY NOTHIN COMPARED TO THE GIRLS THAT HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH ME!"

"I was joking...."

"Uh, ehm, i was too, obviously *cough* *cough*"

"I'll be on my merry way then"

"So you have a xxxmas style girl waiting uh?"

"...What?"

".....It's.... my dialect.... shut up"

"Bye pervert"

"Byyyyyeee! And rememebr: MONSTER GIRLS FOR LIFE!"

And so Andrew walked away into the night.

"Well, all's well that ends well"

*bing*

"A magic message.... who is it from?...... OH FUCK ME NO!"

Hello guys! Liked the chapter? Regrettably i was a bit too tired to check the chapter, so there may be a few mistakes, i'll fix them as soon as possible. So, the mind world seems to be very vague and confusing, uh? I mean, it's the mind, of course it is.

????: You're just too lazy to describe it

HEY! I TOLD YOU 10 CHAPTERS!

????: You never said anything about the notes

....Fuuuuuuuuuuuck meeeee

????: I'm sorry, but i only like like monster girls

OH, YOU SASS ME NOW?!? Anyway, Andrew finally cured the rats! And this small arc of Rats and Men is over!

????: And all thanks to me!

Go away! Now, to the serious stuff. This story's got a lot of things: OP Mc, most likely harem, monsters, templars, adventurers, fourth wall hating nymphomaniacs assholes, maybe actual nymphs in the future etc. But what it truly lacks, is a villain. And not a villain, like just an enemy to Andrew, for example Edresia, i mean a real villain, someone so bastardly magnificent to piss of Andrew over any known limits and to push his abilities and skills to the fucking limit (yes, repetition, i don't care). And Rulia is not one, just saying. So, i ask you readers, what kind of villain would you like to see?

????:And three to five people will comment and two of them will only thank you for the chapter. By the way,you're welcome, this guys's doing his best.