The hound felt its power being suppressed by an unseen force. Despite its ability to control dreams, it couldn't detect the source of this power anywhere it looked, but it was clearly there. It felt as if it were an ant being pinned down by a hand—hopeless and unable to resist, capable of being crushed with a single finger.
"Danger! Must retreat and report to mistress…" Sensing the shift in the situation, the hound planned on escaping right away. Just as it had arrived, it began to fold in on itself, like water spiraling down a drain, attempting to vanish from the dream realm.
Magnus frowned at this sight and said, "Where the hell do you think you're going? Do you think you're part of the Akatsuki or something?" This time, Magnus acted without making any kind of gesture. As the hound started to retreat, it suddenly felt that same unseen force locking down on its existence, trapping it within this human's mind.
Bouncing back as it had hit a wall, the hound reappeared on the moon's surface, unable to devour or escape; it was trapped.
Realizing its predicament, the hound growled, ready to flee. If escape was impossible, it would at least distance itself from this human. But before it could move, Magnus was already bearing down on it. In an instant, he had somehow teleported in front of the hound and gripped its throat before slamming it against the ground, cracking the moon's surface.
"You just said you needed to report back to someone, right? Does that mean someone sent you after me?" Looking up, the hound saw Magnus grinning down at it. His grip was unbreakable, and as it gazed into his eyes, it felt an unfamiliar emotion, one it had never experienced before.
Fear.
"What was it you said when we first met? 'The nightmare has yet to begin', right? It looks like you were right about that." After that, the hound couldn't properly describe what it went through. It felt like its mind had been torn apart, peaked into, and exposed for all to see. Was it pain it felt? Or something else—something indescribable, unique to the realm of dreams?
Whatever it was, the hound wanted it to stop at any cost. And so, an unknown amount of time passed.
"So let me get this straight: you were sent by your mistress to devour my dreams and steal my memories, then report back to her? And in return, you'd get to roam free for a bit?"
Magnus spoke to the hound while sitting on a rock, his gaze skeptical. The hound, with its head lowered, sat like a dog chastised for mischief.
"Yes." The hound's reply was simple: it had surrendered to Magnus. Magnus scrutinized the hound, as if gauging its honesty, then sighed and asked another question.
"Okay, then who is this mistress of yours? And why did she send you after me?" The hound opened its mouth to speak, then closed it, hesitating.
Seeing Magnus's narrowed gaze, the hound quickly spoke up, trying to clear up any misunderstanding.
"I'm not lying; I was only given basic instructions and information... I'm newly born; I don't know much about the world." Hearing this, Magnus almost groaned as he sat back down and muttered,
"Great, the big bad stays hidden, typical fantasy cliché. Whatever, if you're no use to me, I might as well get rid of you."
As Magnus began to raise his hand, the hound's survival instincts kicked in, and it blurted out, "Wait, I can be of assistance..."
Magnus paused and tilted his head, intrigued.
"How so?" The hound didn't hesitate to give up information when its life was on the line; it had hardly experienced the world. How could it allow itself to die here?
"I can't disobey my mistress's orders, but if you remove the mark of loyalty from my mental form, I can serve you instead." Listening to him, Magnus had to admit he was tempted by the idea of having his own dream hound, but he remained cautious.
"And why would I do that?" Seeing Magnus's interest, the hound eagerly pitched its abilities.
"I can enter the minds of living beings, infiltrate, and control their dreams. With time, I can even peek into their memories or take control of their subconscious minds." It was a fairly useful ability, and one Magnus could see a lot of use for, but still, he felt the hound had more to offer than just that, so he decided to remain aloof.
If there was one thing he had learned from trading mythic items online, it's that if you push someone desperate for a trade a bit harder, they'll crack and offer up all types of things.
"Well, considering I easily overpowered you, despite you being the invader, I'm not sure how useful you'd be to me." Of course, Magnus's advantage came from his Command Console.
He had long since discovered that he could control his own fantasies with the Command Console much more easily than he could reality when he developed [Self Body Puppetry]. However, this control was something limited to his own mind, unless he could somehow gain access to another person's.
Seeing Magnus still hesitant, the hound paused before adding,
"I can also influence the conscious mind to a certain extent if I find an opening, though it's challenging if I'm resisted..." The hound's voice faltered, as this ability was clearly not as useful as its other abilities.
Most people, be they ordinary humans, knights, or even mages, were unaware of the subconscious. It was a neglected and unthought-of part of the mind, often left unguarded compared to the ever-active main consciousness. The hound took advantage of that common weakness in order to manipulate people's dreams and the subconscious, but that was also the limit of its abilities.
As for influencing the main consciousness of a person's mind, that was nearly impossible for it to do without being actively given access without resistance. Despite its limited knowledge about the world, the hound understood that such a conditional ability was almost worthless.
Yet, when it looked up at Magnus, it saw nothing but sheer delight. Magnus's face broke into a smile, his eyes gleaming as if he had discovered a treasure trove.
"So you're saying if you're given access, you could manipulate someone's main consciousness, right? Does that mean you could control their imagination or help drive and filter their thoughts?" The hound hesitated before nodding.
"That should be possible, to a certain extent," it replied.
Instantly, Magnus sprang up from his seat, a surge of joy compelling him to shout into the void, "Oh, Isekai gods, I knew you hadn't forsaken me!"
The hound watched in bafflement as Magnus's gaze locked onto it once more. Leaning down, Magnus spoke to the hound in a gentler tone, like a businessman discussing a lucrative deal.
"Alright, I accept. I'll remove your loyalty mark or whatever and let you live; in return, I want you to stay in my mind." The hound's confusion deepened as it sought clarification.
"You want me to stay? In your mind?" Magnus nodded, elaborating further.
"Yes, but I don't want you just idling in my head. I'll grant you access to both my subconscious and main consciousness, so I want you to manage my intrusive and impulsive thoughts, or at least suppress them as much as possible."
Realizing the potential risks of his proposal, Magnus added a precaution.
"And I'll also imprint my own mark on you, so you can't turn my imagination against me. What do you think?" The hound sat in stunned silence; Magnus's request seemed entirely illogical.
Initially, Magnus was prepared to destroy it for attempting to consume his dreams and memories, but now he was offering it control over not just his subconscious but also his main consciousness. It made no sense to the hound; however, at the same time, it didn't have much of a choice in the matter.
It bowed respectfully and responded, "Very well."
As it did so, a glowing mark appeared on its forehead, resembling the magical circles found in games.
"What's this?" Magnus inquired, examining the mark with curiosity.
"The mark of loyalty placed by my mistress. Since my mental form and physical form are practically one, it makes me incapable of directly defying her orders, even in someone else's mind," the hound explained.
In essence, as long as this mark existed, the hound would always strive to fulfill its original mission whenever possible. Its current inaction was solely due to Magnus's suppression of its abilities.
"Huh, well, alright."
Effortlessly, Magnus used the Command Console to erase the loyalty mark completely. In his own mind, unlike in the real world, he could use the console to perform tasks without any limits.
In an instant, the loyalty mark on the hound's mental form disappeared. Simultaneously, Magnus envisioned creating his own mark and its functions.
"Let's see. From now on, you can't harm me, inconvenience me, or disobey me in any way. You'll exist within my mind and act in my best interest unless I say otherwise." With a bit of effort, Magnus used the Command Console to create a new mark in the shape of a diamond with a circle in the center.
"Man, I love how easy it is to use the Command Console here. If I had this level of control in the real world, all my problems would have been solved by now." Magnus spoke freely now that he had placed the seal.
He had complete confidence in the Command Console's ability. The hound, expecting some ritual, was surprised to see that all Magnus had to do was speak a few words. After the mark was placed, it still felt a sense of self, but in its mind, Magnus was automatically its number one priority; there was no resisting that, nor any desire to resist. Even if it had the option to break free from his control, it wouldn't choose to take it.
The seal was terrifyingly effective.
"Alright, how do I give you access to my subconscious and main consciousness?" This was the one part Magnus didn't know. Hearing its new master's question, the hound stood up and answered simply.
"Just don't resist the integration; I'll handle the rest." As it spoke, the hound began to dissolve into the dream space. It wasn't like before, when it tried to cover and devour everything, nor was it disappearing as if trying to leave Magnus's mind entirely.
It was like a drop of paint diluting in a large body of water, stretched thin to the point of invisibility, yet still present. As the hound told him to, Magnus didn't try to resist this feeling, and as he did, the dream faded, and he opened his eyes.
Sitting up in bed, Magnus felt like he had just been on a rollercoaster ride.
"Well, that was weird." Talking to himself, Magnus got out of bed and looked around. There was no sign of anything strange or out of the ordinary to hint that what happened in his dream actually happened, but he still decided to check.
"Hey hound, are you in there?" Magnus didn't have to wait even a second, as he got a near-instant response.
[I am here, master; the integration was successful. There is no need to speak; I can hear your thoughts.]
Oh good, talking out loud would have definitely made me look insane. Though this is a bit weird, honestly.
The voice of the hound was neither soft nor loud, but still, it was a bit uncomfortable and awkward; he would need some time to get used to it. And speaking of things to get used to, Magnus immediately noticed something strange.
My mind…
At this moment, Magnus's mind felt unbelievably clear and calm, so much so that it felt abnormal.
His mind wasn't constantly trying to think of random things as he looked around; it simply focused on what was in front of him. Of course, this didn't mean those thoughts didn't exist; it was just that they couldn't affect what he was focused on and remained in the background.
Hey, hound, are you doing this?
[Yes, master, this is what you wanted, correct?]
Magnus didn't even have to respond. A grin appeared on his face as he basked in the tameness that was his own mind. He had struggled so much to obtain such a state of peace of mind for even brief periods of time, but now it was permanent.
"This is amazing; everything will be so much easier now. Though calling you 'hound' is a bit weird." Sitting down on the bed again, Magnus thought to himself for a moment. After a while, a name hit him as he spoke out loud.
"How about I call you Basker? They made me read The Hound of the Baskervilles so much in school, so I think it's pretty fitting."
[Very well, my name from this point on shall be Basker.]