Chapter 40 Fallen Witcher VS Superpowered Individuals 3

The changes the Seed of the Heart brought me were not just limited to being able to transform into a goat-headed demon and manipulate the power of shadows.

According to the creator of the monster, this is simply the standard configuration of the Heart Seed. If the compatibility between the Heart Seed and the combiner is high enough, the combiner will develop their own unique superpower.

However, he also said that the individuals he personally selected were not chosen randomly, but were those whose compatibility with him was high enough to produce unique abilities, so I am not considered special among them.

Since he himself calls himself the "Creator of Monsters," then the person who unites with the Seed of the Heart will naturally be called a "Monster." Just as his name suggests, he is a person who has transformed into a monster.

My unique ability as an eccentric is "stand-in".

I can temporarily transfer the Seed of the Heart from my own body, turning a human into a monster. During this time, all my power will be transferred to this monster, while I will temporarily lose my power, and my desire for a soul will also shift.

Humans I transform into monsters through this method will become my stand-in puppets. I can issue them any commands and remotely share my senses with them. When necessary, I can also reclaim my power, and my yearning for a soul will return. This process takes only a moment, so there's no need to worry about not having enough time to reclaim my power if my true self is in danger.

Monsters can continue to evolve their power by hunting humans and consuming their souls, and Stands can do the same. Furthermore, when I reclaim my power, the Stand's power growth will be fed back to me. The price, however, is that the Stand will die.

Even though I had never used this ability before, I grasped its details. These things came to mind like instinct, preventing me from misunderstanding the true nature of my ability.

The creator of this strange entity inquired about my abilities when he came to examine me. Since I didn't know his background, I couldn't choose to hide it or lie; I had to tell him the truth. After hearing the details of my abilities, he showed a somewhat surprised expression.

“I never expected it to be this kind of ability,” he exclaimed. “Of all the weirdos I’ve created so far, your ability is probably the closest to the original.”

I immediately asked him what the Primarch was, but he seemed to just give a casual answer and didn't intend to elaborate on the topic.

"Compared to that, you haven't devoured any souls yet." He looked at me meaningfully. "If you never devour human souls, sooner or later you'll lose control and go berserk under the influence of murderous impulses, then become the target of Luo Shan's slaying, and die under the sword of some fickle person. Even if that's the end you can accept?"

“…I don’t want to kill,” I struggled to say. “Does it have to be killing, devouring human souls? Can’t animals do the same—”

“No,” he said. “Since you were able to think of that method, you must have already tried it. The Seed of the Heart only accepts human souls.”

"Then... is it possible to remove the seed of the heart from my body?" I regretted saying that as soon as I asked the question.

"Are you sure? The Seed of the Heart is deeply intertwined with you. Unless you die, the Seed of the Heart cannot leave you."

"..." I remained silent.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "However, there is another possibility: the Seed of the Heart may leave your body."

"What's going on?" I asked.

“To prevent the Seed of Heart from being captured by Luo Shan, when a monster finds itself in an inescapable predicament, the Seed of Heart will automatically leave the monster. Of course, in this case, the monster will still die from losing the Seed of Heart,” he said. “Unfortunately, the Seed of Heart itself does not have the ability to judge the situation; ultimately, it is you who judges the situation. Therefore, when you are truly desperate and resigned to your fate, believing that you are powerless to change anything…”

“…I will die,” I said.

“That’s right. So, hurry up and kill people, Kongda.” He laughed. “Once you give up thinking and let yourself accept the future of being attacked by Luoshan, the Seed of the Heart will leave you. You will return to the self that can’t do anything and die without accomplishing anything.”

-

After much struggle, I still chose the path of murder.

Because I don't want to lose my power, and I don't want to die.

To avoid being tracked down by Luo Shan and the official forces, I cannot be the one who committed the murder; it can only be my double.

The stand's inherent qualities and loyalty are unimportant; my ability will elevate it to a usable level, and it won't be able to disobey any of my commands. I have no grand ambitions, nor do I intend to manipulate those in power in society. As long as it's a human being, that's fine; marginalized individuals in society don't matter.

Furthermore, there's a problem with those who manipulate power: the person I turn into a Stand will directly transform into the Goat-Headed Demon form, and the transformation cannot be reversed even after death. If I am "a human capable of transforming into a Goat-Headed Demon," then the Stand is someone who directly undergoes physiological modification by the strange power, becoming the Goat-Headed Demon itself.

So I found a homeless man who looked extremely destitute. No one would care if this type of person disappeared from society. It's the safest option.

However, there was a small mishap: these days, even homeless people shouldn't be underestimated. I've seen similar news online before, about homeless people scavenging on the street who were recognized by passersby as former millionaires or other powerful figures who had fallen on hard times.

I thought those kinds of news stories were things from far away, but after asking around, I found out that the homeless man I caught was actually the leader of a feudal superstitious cult.

He had been living a life of luxury and tyranny in the countryside, until a high school folklore enthusiast suddenly appeared out of nowhere, exposing all his tricks and even assisting the authorities in prosecuting him for his crimes. Losing his support, he was nearly carried out and burned at the stake by angry followers. If he hadn't prepared a scapegoat—someone he had brainwashed and who had undergone plastic surgery—he might have actually died there.

However, fortunes change, and he probably never dreamed that he, who escaped death by being a scapegoat, would one day become my substitute.

Under the influence of my superpower, his mind was quickly shattered.

My Stand ability isn't some outrageous power that works unconditionally; not everyone can be transformed into my Stand. When I use this ability on a target, the target will first be imprisoned in an illusion before being transformed.

The creator of the freak once told me that the freak's superpowers are closely related to his past life experiences and his heartfelt desires.

The illusion I created was precisely the dead end that once terrified me and plunged me into despair.

The more fear and despair a person trapped in the illusion experiences, the longer they are imprisoned. An ordinary person would need several days to escape, but I can transform my target into a substitute puppet in just one minute.

The "trapped" stage can be resisted with magic, but the "transformation" stage is a rule-based process that ignores the difference in power. Once this minute is over, no matter how powerful the person in the illusion is, they will only become a puppet to be manipulated by me.

After obtaining the double, I began ordering him to kill people.

Although the stand-in can take the urge to kill for me, if I allow him to accumulate that urge, I will inherit all of it once the Seed of the Heart returns, which is unacceptable.

However, I didn't intend for him to kill ordinary people indiscriminately. Since he's currently controlling a stand-in and has already made up his mind to kill, I might as well put aside all my reservations and conscience and let him hunt down demon hunters.

Most witchers' magic originates from their souls, and they often possess higher-quality souls. Even if the Heartseed isn't with me for the time being, I'm still an oddball, able to sense which people have higher-quality souls.

By devouring those souls, I can gain greater power, and because it takes longer to digest those souls, I won't have to kill frequently.

Just in case, I didn't hunt down the demon hunters of Luoshan, but instead targeted civilian demon hunters. While they were called civilian "demon hunters," they might not actually have the experience or desire to hunt demons; calling them superpowered individuals would be a more accurate description.

While I was operating in the shadows, other dark clouds were also hanging over me.

Of all the weirdos I've created so far, your abilities are perhaps the closest to the Primitive One's.

These are the words of the eccentric creator, and I have never dared to ignore or forget them.

The Primitive, it sounds like the prototype of our weirdo, or the source.

When the eccentric reaches a point of utter despair, the Seed of the Heart departs. So... where does the departing Seed of the Heart ultimately go?

My ability is to transplant the Heart Seed into other humans, and after recovering it, I can gain all the power of the Stand puppet. So... in the eyes of the Primarch who possesses similar powers, are we monsters also his Stand puppets?

Perhaps at some point, the Primarch will activate his powers and reclaim the Heart Seeds of all the monsters.

All eccentrics eventually revert to their powerless selves and die without accomplishing anything.

The thought of that scene terrifies me.

I must explore… explore the source of the Seed of the Heart, and all related information. I must know how to prevent that situation from occurring, or at least ensure that I can survive it if it does.

Whenever the eccentric maker visits, I try to subtly probe him.

I don't know if he was genuinely lacking in vigilance or if he felt it didn't matter if he shared that kind of information, but he brought it up to me during a casual conversation.

"The technological prototype of Seed of the Heart comes from a field that completely overlaps with the real world in space."

"Completely overlapping with the real world...you mean another time?" I was shocked.

In the mysticism I've encountered, alternate dimensions that "almost overlap" with the real world do exist, but alternate dimensions that "completely overlap" with the real world do not exist.

If I had to give an example, it would be different times in the same space.

That is, the past, or... the future.

(End of this chapter)