historical

Chapter 343: Plot

"This... Hold on, let me think for a second." After doing his best to regain his composure, Thilan pointed at Distortion as he asked, "Is this enhancement effect temporary?"

"No, it's permanently become more powerful."

"I see. All invoked entities are essentially part of the invocator's psychic body. Does that mean you've also grown more powerful?"

"You can interpret it that way. Recently, my telegnosis has constantly been improving, but not as quickly as it used to."

Adam withdrew Distortion as he spoke as he could already sense that the anomaly was itching to pounce on Thilan.

"Alright, this is my most important question for you: is there an upper limit to this ability of yours?"

Thilan had seen some outrageously talented adapters in the past who had developed rapidly in the initial phase, only to quickly hit their ceiling.

Even though Adam was already creating somewhat of a stir with his rate of development, he still wasn't attracting all that much attention from the people at the very top, who had seen far too many prodigies to count.

Objectively speaking, every single Lamp Keeper in the Guild of Immortality was a prodigy, but there could be vast disparities in power even among prodigies.

People like May and Hebi no Miko were prodigies among prodigies, and the absolute cream of the crop was exceedingly rare.

In Thilan's eyes, only those who had the potential to reach that level were worth collaborating with.

"At the moment, there doesn't appear to be an upper limit."

"And yet, you're still developing so slowly?" Thilan exclaimed with an exasperated expression. "If I had this ability, I would definitely be far beyond your current level at this stage."

"My situation is very complicated."

When Adam first awakened, he knew next to nothing about this world.

Every step that he had taken had been extremely arduous, and there had never been prolonged periods of stability that had allowed him to develop in peace. Even now, in his pursuit for more power had landed in trouble with Thilan.

"What's so complicated about it?"

"Consider if you were in my shoes. You want to become more powerful, but you're under the constant scrutiny of the southern congress, the Guild of Immortality, and Hebi no Miko. You don't have the time or the opportunities to make steady progress. Last time, I almost got caught in Darvaza Prison, and this time, I was caught by you. Nothing comes easily to me."

"Now that you put it that way, your situation is indeed quite difficult," Thilan replied with a nod. "Are you only able to grow stronger by killing anomalies? Also, I'm assuming the more powerful the anomaly is, the more psychic power you can absorb from them, is that right?"

"That's right."

"That does pose quite the conundrum." Given Thilan's intelligence, he was immediately able to identify the crux of the problem. "The anomalies in the psychic worlds of normal people are very weak, and that includes even those who suffer from mental illnesses. Only truly twisted and depraved people are able to develop high-level anomalies. That's why you went to Darvaza Prison before coming here, and both times, something went wrong."

"That's right."

"Let me think..."

Thilan was carefully considering all possible options. After witnessing what he had just seen, he had already determined Adam to be the best collaborative partner that he could ask for.

"Let me think of a way to make you more powerful as quickly as possible. All of these dark web clubs are definitely good places to search for psychic deviants, but these clubs are the playthings of the extremely wealthy and powerful. Some of the members of these clubs even have ties to the Guild of Immortality, so killing too many of them is definitely going to result in serious repercussions.

“When that time comes, even if I try to cover for you, other people are going to be sent to investigate you. I've heard that there are some psychic deviants who have recently been blatantly killing people to challenge the authority of the government. However, not only are these people hard to find, they're all high-level adapters who act in groups, so they could pose a major threat to you at your current level of power."

After some contemplation, Thilan finally thought of something.

"I know the best place for you to go. You should go to prison!"

"What?"

"I'm saying you should go to Darvaza Prison," Thilan re-emphasized as he looked directly at Adam. "There are many psychic deviants in there, and most importantly, all of the psychic deviants who get thrown into that prison are ones that don't have any powerful backers or ties to major organizations. There's a very high death rate in there, and you can just cover your tracks by blaming it on prison riots."

"You're telling Adam to go to prison? How about you go fuck yourself?"

Armadillo sprang out of the ground to attack Thilan, and after Thilan dodged the attack, Adam stepped in to hold Armadillo back.

"Let him finish."

"Darvaza Prison is a place that no one pays any attention to. Aside from some of the outer activity areas, which are overseen by surveillance cameras and Mechguard units, many of the internal areas don't even have any Mechguard presence. Most importantly, there aren't any important figures locked up in there, so even if they die, the general public wouldn't care.

“Brawls break out very frequently there, and dozens of inmates could easily be killed in a brawl. I'm sure you're already aware of all of this, but something that you may not be aware of is that the chief warden is a complete idiot."

"How so?"

"The chief warden's name is Emmanuel Hosman, and he's a member of the Hosman Family, a prominent political family of the southern congress. He's the eldest son of that family, but he has a naturally low IQ, a lazy personality, and he suffers from bulimia, so he as gradually ostracized by his family and sent to Darvaza Prison so he wouldn't get in anyone's way.

“Acting as chief warden of the prison is the perfect job for someone as lazy and useless as him because no one cares what happens in the prison. Hence, you can do a lot of things under his 'supervision'."

"Only people who have committed extremely serious crimes end up getting locked up in Darvaza Prison. If I get locked up in there, how do I come out? Also, I need to maintain a positive reputation in the eyes of the general public. If I don't have that to protect me, the southern congress would be able to crush me like an ant."

Indeed, at the moment, Adam's reputation was like a talisman to him, and it was something that he couldn't afford to give up.

"I understand. That's why you made that special news program with Shivani, right? What an exceptional journalist she is! Us Indians are the kindest and most intelligent people in this world!" After chuckling to himself for a while, Thilan's smile gradually faded, and he returned to his normal brooding demeanor. "That is indeed a problem, but if we work together, we should be able to resolve it."

"What do you suggest?"

"The general public loves to see a story with a twist, such as a philanthropist who ends up being completely corrupt, or a hero who's actually just a puppet for a sinister organization. At the moment, you're a hero in the eyes of the people. What do you think would happen if it were exposed that in reality, you were a demented killer yourself all along, and in addition to that, you're a cannibal? How many points would you rate that twist as the plot of a novel?"

"Zero points."

"Alright, hear me out. The story progresses from there, and I provide concrete evidence to the southern congress that you've visited the cannibal club, thereby confirming that you're a cannibal, and as a result, you'll undoubtedly be sent to Darvaza Prison. How many points would you rate that?"

"10 points."

"While you're in prison, I'll use my connections within the southern congress to instigate conflicts between the factions in the prison, and you take advantage of this to kill a bunch of psychic deviants to drastically improve your own powers. What do you think of that?"

"I'll give it 30 points."

"After you become a drastically more powerful adapter while in prison, I'll present evidence to Shivani, indicating that you only went to the cannibal club to investigate a case, thereby clearing your name. She releases this evidence to the public, and with the help of the northern congress, the script turns once again.

“As it turned out, the hero is still the hero, except he was framed by certain politicians. After that redemption arc, your public image with be enhanced even further, and you'll be able to come out of prison. How's that for a story?"

"I'd give that close to full marks," Adam said as a smile finally appeared on his face.

"Good. After you come out of prison, you'll be able to quickly crush the killers wreaking havoc in the city with your newfound powers, thereby elevating your reputation to even greater heights. When that time comes, I'd say you'd even be able to win the Sandrise City mayoral election and flip the script to become one of the people calling the shots, rather than someone who's constantly being oppressed and restrained."