91- Misunderstanding

Mason looked at the leaders of the X-Men, now cautiously watching him, and let go of his little gremlin of a sister, and said, "Honestly, I thought you guys would have solved this without me, but whatever. It is a little convoluted."

He turned to look at Wolverine and asked, "Tell me, Wolverine, do you remember anything prior to you waking up and seeing me ‘kill’ that girl? Anything at all?"

He did not wait for him to answer, because he doubted he would be getting one. "No, you definitely did not, because you were being controlled psychically. Now, I don’t know why exactly they did that, but they cultivated that girl’s body to the peak of the Body Refinement Realm, swapped the mind of a telepath inside her, then killed her, to then resurrect her and possess her. That bitch Krahllak," he looked back at the leaders of the X-Men, "that’s the demon leading the Hand." he looked back at Wolverine, "that bitch was unable to possess living beings, and maybe it was unable to kill you, so it used that enslaved girl to manipulate you. I freed you by ‘killing’ her."

Wolverine was clearly in doubt when Jean Grey suddenly added, "He is telling the truth."

Mason swiveled his head her way, eyes narrowed as his Spirit got agitated. "Did you just read my mind?"

Jean said nothing, watching him, when unexpectedly, Mason grinned, adding, "You’re good. I did not even feel that."

Since pretense had already been broken from the other side, Mason extended his Divine Sense over her. Jean twitched as his Divine Sense washed over her, her gaze becoming more severe, but Mason ignored her as he marveled at what he felt.

Her Essence and her Breath were utterly normal, slightly higher than normal, but only at the level of a woman who had trained for several years. But her Spirit… her Spirit was something else.

It was, without a doubt, the most powerful Treasure or energy source Mason had ever felt, surpassing his own by orders of magnitude. But quantity, by itself, was not shocking. The Immortal Weapons also possessed more Chi than he did even today, especially Shou-Lao. But while they had more Chi, the quality of their Essence remained firmly within the Awakening Realm, in the first state of matter, a gaseous form.

But it was different with Jean. She not only had the quantity, but she also had the quality, her Spirit transformed beyond the gaseous form. Mason actually could not tell what state it had reached, only that it was above his own. In other words, her Spirit was at least a realm above his own, if not more, while her Essence and Breath remained those of a normal woman.

That would have been shocking enough on its own, as it was supposed to be impossible. It went against everything Mason knew about cultivation, if such a situation were possible, his own Spirit should have broken through to the Foundation Establishment Realm while he was stuck as a soul.

It was like her Spirit was utterly separated from her other two treasures, as it should have had an effect on them. It should have either utterly crushed them from existing in the same body, or fed them to at least approach it. But it did neither of those things, simply coexisting, the connection between the Three Treasures untouched.

But Mason sensed something else. Something hidden. Mason wanted to probe, but he was not that stupid, so he retracted his Divine Sense.

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Seeing that Jean was still staring intently, though, he silently pictured the most harrowing images he could.

It was him crushing the chests of those Hand Ninjas with his palms, as well as the Eighth City.

Jean showed no reaction to it, though, making Mason wonder whether there was a problem with his visualization, or if that was simply not how telepathy worked. Since he only stood to take a loss, he asked, "Why don’t we get inside first? I don’t mean to impose, but it would make the explaining easier, and give the children peace of mind."

Professor X immediately nodded. "Yes, of course. Please, follow us. Logan, you too." He looked at Cyclops. "Scott, you may proceed with your class as usual."

Cyclops, or Scott Summers, looked uncertainly at Mason before eventually nodding as Mason disappeared into the mansion alongside Professor X, Wolverine, Marvel Girl, and Storm.

Logan had retrieved his claws at some point, but his fiery gaze was locked onto Mason, ready to attack at any given moment.

As they arrived underground, now fully surrounded by metal, Professor X said, "In truth, we gathered to thank you, Honored One. For saving us. Only, things have taken an… unfortunate turn."

Mason shrugged, unbothered. "It’s fine, Wolverine did get brainwashed. Had the roles been reversed, he probably wouldn’t have a head anymore. And please, there’s no need to thank me. Releasing you from that trap was more incidental than intentional, I just had to kill that demon."

Professor X nodded. "Yes, Krahllak, I believe. It is rather hard to swallow that a demon, out of all things, was the catalyst behind our release. The world has changed in many ways since we disappeared, and yet, it remains the same in other ways."

Mason nodded, and Jean, who was now pushing the Professor’s chair, added, "I did not read your mind, by the way."

Mason sent her an inquisitive look, and she gave him a proud smile. "It’s a trick. We don’t just read the minds of people without their approval, unless it is a matter of life and death. And even then, it is something we avoid if we can. But even with this, few ever come to truly trust a telepath. That’s why I came up with a few tricks. You came with the expectations that your mind would be read, so I told you I did. There are more ways than telepathy to tell what a person thinks, and your reaction told me you truly were telling the truth."

Mason raised an eyebrow before tipping his head. "Clever, you got me. But then again, how would I know this explanation is not the trick instead, a way to make me believe you did not read my mind when you in fact did?"

Jean shrugged with a helpless smile, and Storm, who had been silent so far, replied in a solemn voice, "Only trust will do that. It is not only those whose power is visible to the naked eye who are persecuted, Mr. Tunt. A telepath is someone who is inherently hard to trust. You can imagine the kind of effect this would have socially."

Mason smiled at Storm and said, "And that is not a privilege unique to mutants, Ms. Storm. I don’t know how well you have acclimated to our time, but there has actually been quite a lot of research made on the sociological aspect of mutant-kind. One theory I particularly liked is that mutants were not discriminated against solely because of their powers, but because of the communitarianism."

Professor X’s face lit up, but before he could say anything, Logan interrupted, "Enough. You will explain what happened, and now!"

Mason wanted to tease Wolverine, but even he could recognize now was not the time, so as they reached a room, he turned to Jean and asked, "Words can only go so far. Say, would you be able to form a connection between our minds? To show him what I know?"

Jean looked intrigued by the question, but also hesitant. "Well, it is possible, but it would probably be wiser for the Professor to do it. He is far more experienced than me."

Mason was about to refute when Professor X took the lead, "Come now, Jean, you are perfectly capable of doing this. This also represents a decent challenge for you, so take it as a small test."

Mason concluded that it truly was a pain to deal with telepaths, as he could not help but wonder whether Xavier had read his mind and said this to gain his trust, if it was just a coincidence, if he was making up scenarios in his head, or something else.

There was something very troubling about not being able to trust his own thoughts’ sanctity. As Storm said, it truly was about trust, considering he never faced this issue with the Ancient One. Except he was not sure Xavier was the kind of man Mason could ever trust.