Chapter 59: Questions And Answers.

The worm’s mind became foggy, and it slurred its words as it said, “For most of my life, I knew hunger. There was only hunger, and I didn’t know where I was. Then everything changed when I gained a seed bed.”

“I grew, drawing resources from the seed bed, and matured into a juvenile titan. My transformation was successful, but I couldn’t control the seed bed because someone else did. So I tried to eat the contender.”

“I failed to eat the contender, but I ate something. I know I ate something, but I can’t remember. Or maybe I only bit something. I can’t remember what happened.”

“What happened after that?” Lord Bane asked impatiently.

“I began to remember things. I also began to learn new things.”

“I learned that the seed bed was Alexander. He always tortured me with a nightmare. And he refused to let me eat as much as I wanted.”

“I realized that I was getting smarter. I didn’t realize it until Alexander pointed it out. He also said I was stupid, but I noticed that I was getting smarter.”

“On the second day, Alexander woke up with a nightmare. Then we went to train with Tessa. She gave us food but didn’t let us eat it any way we wanted. She was always interrupting us and beating us when we refused to listen.”

“I tried to take control of the body, but Alexander won’t let me. He is a stubborn and selfish jerk who only cares about himself. He doesn’t prioritize feeding me and doesn’t let me eat whatever I want. So I fought him again and again for control of the body.”

“Our fights always ended in a draw, with neither of us able to control the body. I hate it, but…”

“Enough of that. Tell me something useful,” Lord Bane asked, irritated.

He was glad that the worm could communicate and wasn’t a mindless, raging beast clamoring for food. But this much nonsense was wearing thin on his patience.

He didn’t want to waste time listening to a worm’s ramblings, especially since Alexander’s mind seemed to be awakening. Clearly, his extraordinary Memory Attribute had made it difficult for him to forget that his current state was abnormal.

So Lord Bane urged the worm, saying, “Tell me anything odd that you’ve noticed about Alexander. Surely you’ve noticed something abnormal about him.”

The worm controlled Alexander’s head to nod as it said, “I have noticed a lot of strange things about him.”

“He doesn’t like eating human flesh even though he enjoys eating it. He doesn’t want to eat an arm from that girl even though she won’t die. He always likes to fight people even if he doesn’t plan to kill them.”

“Just recently, he was talking about raising animals like raising plants. I think he is lying to me. A farm for animals is very odd, and I think…”

“Silence!” Lord Bane said, shouting in his face.

At this moment, Lord Bane was more confused than ever. As they tried to make sense of what the worm said, they asked, “Why haven’t you eaten his mind now?”

Without hesitation, the worm said, “His mind is hard. I can’t bite it.”

Lord Bane could only shake his head and say, “Useless worm.”

Then they turned to Alexander again and asked, “Why is your body strong?”

“Natural talent,” he replied.

“How old are you?”

“27?”

“Did you reincarnate?”

“No,” Alexander said, shaking his head.

“Do you have another set of memories?”

“No.”

“Did you possess this body?”

“No.”

“Do you know how to possess someone else’s body?”

“No.”

“Do you know about reincarnation?”

“No.”

“What is the most traumatic or impactful thing you have ever experienced?”

“I nearly died transforming into a titan.”

Lord Bane asked more questions, and Alexander answered them all. But with each question, his mind grew more active, and the more active his mind became, the greater the resistance.

Of course, Lord Bane could squash Alexander’s mind completely. But that would shatter his mind and turn him into an idiot. Lord Bane didn’t want to do that to his precious property, especially since he could always interrogate Alexander later.

So after reaching Alexander’s limit, they said, “Forget everything that just happened. You never saw me, and we never spoke.”

They did the same thing to the worm’s mind. Then they stepped away from Alexander.

Once they removed their psychic influence, Alexander’s unfocused eyes regained some focus. He looked around in confusion, as if he’d just seen something strange.

He looked left and right, trying to figure out what was amiss. Despite the intense scrutiny, he missed the Tyrant standing some distance away.

When he couldn’t remember what he saw, he bent down to pick up the club. Then resumed smashing the tree stump.

Frank, who should have been watching all along but had frozen for a while, also resumed his duty and cheered, saying, “You can do this.”

“Easy for him to say,” the worm said angrily. “He isn’t the one losing energy on this nonsense.”

“I’m telling you, Alexander, prepare to have a very bad day for putting me through this much stress. If you will stress me, then I’ll stress you too.”

“Hmmm,” Alexander responded absentmindedly.

Unfortunately, his reply wasn’t good enough for the worm. It shrieked in his mind as it said, “Did you even hear me?”

“I heard you,” Alexander said, rolling his eyes.

“I’m not sure of that. What are you thinking about anyway?” it asked, still furious about being disregarded like that.

Alexander was silent for a while. Then he said, “I don’t know.”

Hearing this, the worm sneered and said, “You’ll know what you did wrong today when I’m done with you.”

Lord Bane, listening from the side, clicked his tongue in wonder and said, “Such a resilient mind.”

“That’s a high Memory for you. Even a mortal who doesn’t know how to mobilize his psychic power is so difficult to influence. Fortunately, his Spirit and Mind are weak, or I might have to break something.”