No one knew how much time had passed.
When Evan finally opened his eyes again—
Something had changed.
Whenever he previously used his Authority, his pupils would turn blue.
But now—
They were red.
A deep crimson.
Like burning embers glowing within his eyes.
In the depths of his pupils flickered a gaze that should never belong to a human.
The blue glow had vanished.
Replaced completely by that blazing red.
The moment he woke—
Evan fully understood the new power he had obtained.
Authority of Sentience.
The power of the Herrscher of Sentience.
In terms of direct combat in the real world, this authority might not increase his strength very much.
But—
This was authority over consciousness.
The Herrscher of Sentience has modified your mind.
You now believe the Herrscher of Sentience is the cutest in the world.
Within just a few minutes, Evan had already grasped the basics of the power.
Of course—
True mastery was still far away.
The Authority of Sentience was never meant for conventional combat.
According to the knowledge he inherited—
Even the Eighth Herrscher of the Previous Era had never demonstrated exceptional ability in direct physical battles.
Even inside the Hive Mind Dream she created—
That remained true.
The reason the "Senti" everyone knew was such a powerful fighter was simple.
She inherited Fu Hua's body and memories.
Without those—
The Herrscher of Sentience herself had little physical combat capability.
But because she was born inside Fu Hua's body—
She gained the body of a MANTIS warrior.
And the memories of fifty thousand years.
The Herrscher authority restored Fu Hua's damaged body, removing the limitations caused by Divine Key damage and neurological injuries.
In other words—
Her body returned to its peak state.
However—
Those same memories also shackled her identity.
Her subconscious restraints prevented the Authority of Sentience from reaching its true potential.
Thus she became less like a true Herrscher—
And more like an overpowered version of Fu Hua wielding Fenghuang Down.
Evan rubbed his chin.
"If the Authority of Reason represents physical-level combat…"
"Then the Authority of Sentience is more like a mage."
Perfect for sudden mental strikes.
Ambushes.
Or dragging enemies into an illusionary world tailored entirely to his advantage.
He could construct an illusion—
Then create enemies inside it.
Enemies his opponent recognized.
And let them fight each other.
A perfect battlefield of the mind.
Compared to the Authority of Reason—
This authority was also more supportive in nature.
Just now, he had only attempted a simple illusion inside his mind—
And he was already slightly exhausted.
Of course.
"Simple" was relative.
The illusion he had constructed earlier—
Was roughly half the size of a solar system.
He simply lacked the proficiency to sustain it.
Then another thought appeared.
"Modifying consciousness…"
"Does this count as a form of memetic control?"
Memes.
The concept suddenly made sense.
After all—
Their next destination was Penacony.
Penacony itself was built upon a massive dreamscape composed of memoria.
The entire planet existed within a dream.
Dreams were consciousness.
Pure mental territory.
And this authority specialized in exactly that.
Rewrite consciousness.
Create illusions.
Alter perception.
With Path energy providing power directly—
There was no need to fight enemies head-on.
Just drag them into a dream.
Then summon their fears.
Or their allies.
And let them destroy themselves.
After sorting through the new knowledge—
Evan picked up the crimson feather in his hand.
He knew this thing very well.
Fenghuang Down.
On Mount Taixu—
There were feathers like this everywhere.
Each feather contained fragments of Fu Hua's memories.
The Divine Key of consciousness.
Created in the Previous Era using the core of the Eighth Herrscher.
Besides storing memories—
It could manipulate brain signals.
Anyone who saw the feather could instantly fall into an illusion created by its holder.
Inside such illusions—
Reality and fiction became indistinguishable.
If the victim believed they had died—
Their real body would simply become a breathing corpse.
Of course—
It had a drawback.
Its first power consumed memories as fuel.
A rather troublesome side effect.
Evan examined it briefly.
Then stored it away.
This was the original Fenghuang Down.
Incredibly powerful.
But he preferred to rely on his own authority.
Still—
If he ever encountered Phantylia again—
This would prove useful.
Astral Express — Outside the Luofu Jade Gate
The train had not departed yet.
Only the observation car remained lit.
Every other carriage was quiet.
March and the Trailblazer had already fallen asleep.
Dan Heng was still in his room organizing the events of the Luofu into official records.
Himeko and Welt had also returned to their cabins.
But inside the observation car—
A faceless figure quietly appeared.
A Memokeeper.
"Such dense memoria…"
"Who could it be?"
She stepped out from a mirror.
A messenger of the Fuli, the Aeon of Remembrance.
Her gaze swept through the train.
On the left—
The rooms of the Nameless.
March.
The Trailblazer.
Dan Heng.
Welt.
Himeko.
On the right—
A newly prepared cabin.
A new Nameless.
"…An Emanator-level fluctuation?"
"The new passenger?"
Memokeepers existed to gather memories.
The Path of Remembrance was one of the strangest in the universe.
When the universe eventually ended—
They would reconstruct everything.
Memories were their archive.
Their backup.
If the universe was a computer—
Memories were the external storage.
A backup of reality.
But not all followers of Fuli were the same.
There was another faction.
The Cremators.
They believed too many useless memories would corrupt the archive.
So they stole memories gathered by Memokeepers—
Sorted them—
And destroyed what they deemed worthless.
Which made them infamous across the cosmos.
The Memokeeper moved quietly.
And entered Evan's room.
Inside—
She arrived directly within his Sea of Consciousness.
"…What a vast world of memory."
"And so many unresolved mysteries."
"Is this the gaze of a god?"
"Or the lonely curiosity of a genius atop a tower?"
Then—
A cold snort echoed.
She froze.
"…My apologies, Mr. Evan."
"I was distracted by the beauty of your memories."
"I preserve such things, after all."
Evan looked at the faceless Memokeeper with a strange expression.
Just moments ago—
He had been reinforcing the defenses of his consciousness.
After all—
This universe was filled with people who played with minds.
Memokeepers.
Memetic researchers.
Even those mad scholars who worshiped the Primordial Doctor.
Before transmigrating—
He had nearly been brainwashed by a ridiculous memetic song.
Sometimes it still echoed in his mind.
Banana island full of bananas…
Sleeping monkey's cozy home…
Eat bananas then go to sleep…
Happy monkey with no worries…
He shook his head.
Focus.
"Memokeeper from the Garden of Recollection?"
"I've seen you before."
"You're the one who appeared when March tried to recover her memories."
Evan stared at the faceless figure.
All Memokeepers had abandoned their physical bodies.
They existed as pure memoria.
That allowed them to move freely between memory and reality.
This one—
Had blocked March's attempt to retrieve her past.
And afterward—
She had remained aboard the Express.
Probably trying to record the memories of the Nameless.
After all—
The memories of Trailblazers were always the most valuable.
To read advanced Chapters, head over to p@treon:
patreon.com/nani_kaito