Chapter 2207: Interrogating Mohawi

It can be said that the ten thousand pounds of Mithril paid by Kelifu in the first installment brought a great turning point for the currently strained financial operations of the Tower of Time.

If not for the fact that the Seven Towers had obtained a Mythallar—a reality that truly caught him off guard—Xia Duo would have wanted to sing out loud, but for now, it was better to keep his head down and work hard!

Recently, apart from the Mythallar device that must be delivered next week, the most urgent matter for Xia Duo is likely the interrogation of the consciousness of the Psionic Master of illusion, Mohawi.

This concerns the safety of his own mind and consciousness, as well as that of countless others behind him, so he has been handling this since returning from the south, only delayed briefly by a trip to Evereska with his avatar.

Now that things with the Northland Alliance have temporarily come to a pause, he can finally focus his energy on dealing with this matter; this is, in fact, a key link in the research project on Mind Network security.

To guard against psionic intrusion, there is no doubt that learning from those most proficient in the psionic domain is the most convenient and swift method, and in the Main Plane, those most proficient in the psionic domain are undoubtedly the Psionic Masters of Zamdas!

Come to think of it, Mohawi's consciousness can be said to be the most bountiful harvest Xia Duo has had since he started out; even things like the Sword of Ruling from the Projection Plane of Cormanthor or the complete set of Nether Scrolls do not compare.

Because the latter two are more of "symbolic" value; he can view the Nether Scrolls at any time in the Main Plane, and Elven Magic is not fundamentally different from Netheril Magic.

As the saying goes, "Understand one principle and all are clear," even without the Sword of Ruling, just by relying on the Elven Magic data possessed by the Tower of Time, he could gradually deduce it; it would just take a bit more time.

But regarding the data on psionic magic, whether in the Main Plane or the Projection Plane, Xia Duo could not find a reliable way to obtain it.

Zamdas in the south seems similar to the other few countries, all being nations distinguished by their unique magic systems, but this is only on the surface; the magic system itself cannot explain everything.

But because psionics is closely linked to the mind, Zamdas, under a unified system, is actually closer to a theocratic regime.

Previously, while "grappling" with Mohawi's invading consciousness, Xia Duo also passively obtained some information from the other party; of course, some of his own information was also obtained by the other party, which was unavoidable.

In Mohawi's cognition, what truly rules Zamdas is not the Zamdas Ruling Council composed of Blade Lords, but the two major schools that have infiltrated the Council.

Or to be more precise—it is the thoughts and philosophies believed in by the Zeqi School and the Anti School!

Aside from their shared understanding of the essence of psionics, the Zeqi School extends the characteristic of psionics being mind-dependent into the philosophy that "psionics dominates everything in the world," which is also the root of Zamdas's endless aggression.

The relatively moderate Anti School, starting from the process of psionic birth, believes that psionics is just a relatively special magic system, not one that is high and mighty, and advocates for coexistence with other magic systems.

Politically, this manifests as advocating for peaceful coexistence with the various southern countries.

That is about all the information from the previous passive perception, so Xia Duo has always been curious: given that psionics can invade consciousness at will, brainwashing should be no problem at all.

And one of the most prominent characteristics of thoughts and philosophies is exclusion; even if the Anti School advocates for coexistence, if others do not, are they just going to rely on "non-violent non-cooperation" and hope for the kindness of others?

Competition in thoughts and philosophies is clearly impossible to be that peaceful.

Then, how exactly did these seemingly incompatible thoughts develop, and how do they coexist in opposition?

Today, Xia Duo finally has the opportunity to unravel this mystery, and of course, the mysteries of psionic magic that he has always coveted.

……

Currently, only a portion of Mohawi's consciousness has been imprisoned by Xia Duo, with the carrier being a part of Xia Duo's high-quality soul; although it is only a part, it can provide a number of forced detachment projections comparable to a normal soul.

And in the process of detaching the projection, a copy of Mohawi's consciousness is also split off and enters the Consciousness Cage along with that bit of soul projection.

Although a small portion of information might inevitably be lost in the process, compared to repeated interrogations, it is simply more cost-effective.

In the Consciousness Cage.

Xia Duo projected here, watching the twisted half-elf, half-human figure roaring in madness within the wilderness scene, and his mood was extremely pleasant; the former Psionic Master of illusion, who could even reorganize consciousness, had now lost himself.

Most of the time, the other party appeared in a state of insanity, only occasionally could one see the other party's crazed eyes become clear, but it could only last for a very short moment before they were unable to suppress the excessive foreign polluted information mixed into their consciousness.

Those elven lives and tree lives of hundreds or thousands of years from the Projection Plane avatars that Xia Duo discarded—Mohawi's twisted half-elf, half-human image is the expression of his most authentic self-cognition.

"Mohawi, do you still remember me?"

"You are Xia Duo? No, you are Mohawi! No, I am Hawei! No, I am Brandon! No, I am Asuosi! No, I am Xilin! No, I am Lair Acalama, the Sole True King of Cormanthor!"

As before, after several consciousnesses took turns occupying the dominant position, perhaps aided by that momentary, extreme chaos, the true Mohawi consciousness stood out:

"Lord Xia Duo, I didn't expect that we all underestimated you, but don't think that this counts as winning; I will haunt you forever! We are one; I am you! You are me! You will never win against me! Hahaha!"

Watching the other party become increasingly incoherent and their eyes no longer clear, Xia Duo suddenly felt a lack of interest; having met like this several times, the other party had not been able to say anything new.

"As expected, crushing the consciousness copy to collect memory fragments is more suitable for me!" Xia Duo couldn't help but sigh.

Metaphysical interrogation is simply unreliable; for a madman, any meaningful interrogation technique is a waste. Rather than this, it is easier to find useful information by shattering the consciousness copy and gathering memory fragments.

The only downside to doing this is that Mohawi's consciousness and Xia Duo's soul fragment carrier are treated as consumables; if the key information is not found before they are completely consumed, it would be a waste.

Familiar with the process, he captured all the memory fragments, and then came the analysis.

"Huh? This time I actually 'drew' the key fragment so quickly!"

Xia Duo's consciousness stirred, and the projection instantly returned to outside the Consciousness Cage, into the avatar located in the Tower of Time's Laboratory. Since the key memory fragment had been found, he could use the connections between memories to find more relevant information.

Of course, before that, Xia Duo lit a portion of Uvilen Memory Incense manifested from the Projection Plane, along with various auxiliary measures already present in the Tower of Time.

At such a critical moment, he would not let go of anything that could assist with thinking, imagination, or memory.