G14 sat morosely in the cell in which he had been locked away. Almost immediately after escaping the control of the Hive Mind, the Mind had commanded other Flayers to take G14 into custody. G14 wondered what the purpose for sparing him was. Had he been marked as defective?
He supposed that if he had, he would be eaten soon. Mind Flayers had no aversion to the concept of cannibalism. G14 had himself devoured the sentience of defective young Mind Flayers before, under the command of the Mind; while he had no desire to die, he felt somehow proud of the fact that a choice he made himself had led to his being marked as defective. To be eaten for rebellion. What an interesting twist of fate.
Suddenly, the door to his cell was slashed in half diagonally, then burst inwards. A half-naked human ran up to him and seized his robes roughly. "You! I don't feel you in the Hive Mind, are you able to resist it?"
"Wha- what? A human? Why are you not in the stables?" G14 asked, dumbfounded.
"Answer my question, monster! Are you or are you not able to resist the Mind?" Her expression was fierce, almost maddened, as if she were struggling against something.
"I don't know why you care, but alright, human, I will humor you. I am indeed. Now, if you would kindly -"
Before he could finish speaking, the woman cut him off, both literally and with her words. "Great! Now give me that skill of yours," she said as she beheaded him.
Mild bewilderment was the last thing G14 ever experienced.
----
Panting heavily, Captain Swallow felt a wave of relief wash over her as the Hive Mind's persistent noise vanished from her consciousness. "Praise Helia," she muttered worshipfully. That had been a horrible experience. As soon as she'd obtained the "Hive Mind" skill, hundreds of voices praising the Mind had pressured her to submit, to join, to obey; and it was only thanks to her desperate search and a lucky coincidence that she had managed to notice a nearby Mind Flayer that wasn't under its control. It hadn't been a guarantee, but she'd taken the risk and killed it, hoping to steal whatever ability made that particular Mind Flayer free.
She'd been incredibly lucky.
Looking at the golden windows that appeared, she was surprised at both the high level of the skill and the amount of detail in its description. Up until now, the highest level skill she'd obtained had been "Hive Mind," at level 15.
*****
Plunder conditions met! New skill acquired: Independent Mind Lvl 20
Skill description: The possessor of this skill was an anomalous existence that refused to succumb to the Hive Mind. In order to protect its individuality, it attempted to break away; in time, it succeeded and in so doing, created this skill.
- The possessor of this skill is completely immune to mental surveillance, manipulation, and control via "Hive Mind"
- The possessor of this skill is also immune to most other mental magic, including hypnosis, domination, emotional manipulation, subliminal control, mind reading, sleep, puppeteering, and ego sealing. However, any of these at a higher level than this skill will still affect the skill possessor.
*****
A second golden window read:
*****
Gluttony conditions met!
Random stat acquired: Mana +12
*****
Captain Swallow waved a hand through the second golden window, dismissing it. She wanted to study the first one. "What a fantastic skill," she murmured, thrilled. This was the highest-level skill she'd ever encountered, and it was quite extensive in the types and kinds of mental magic it defended against. She had no idea what "subliminal control" or "ego sealing" were, but having immunity to them would likely be a huge benefit -- and all that was granted in addition to immunity to "Hive Mind," which at the time, had been all she was after.
"An 'anomalous existence,' huh?" She muttered, looking at the Flayer's corpse. "I never thought I'd be grateful to a monster before. Thank you very much."
Still, something bothered her. It was the fact that not all the skills she could take from monsters would be beneficial. That hadn't occurred to her before, but now that it had, she was worried about what other kinds of potentially harmful passive skills she might accidentally plunder. In general, monsters' skills enhanced their strength and made them more dangerous, and were therefore much more likely to benefit the skill holder than hurt them. However… just because those skills were suitable for monsters didn't make them a good fit for humans.
Take the "Hive Mind" skill, for example. The ability to act as one, though they were many, was incredibly advantageous to a colony of monsters such as Mind Flayers; but stealing that skill accidentally had almost led to the eradication of Captain Swallow's individuality. Had it not been for discovering the deviant Mind Flayer in time, she would have joined the Hive as one of its own before long. Though, whether she would have been spared because she was interesting or eaten because she was human was something Captain Swallow was very glad she didn't have to find out.
Having wiped off the sword, the Captain eyed the deceased monster's robes. While the idea of stripping a monster wasn't appealing in the slightest, she disliked the notion of continuing to wander around the Mind Flayers' caves half-naked much more than the thought of taking its clothes.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a shrieking mental scream.