"In short, just one man who the village chief's grandson luckily managed to invite… Managed to subdue the whole bandit group on his own?"

"Indeed, Sect Master! do you think he…"

"It's a bit too far fetched but it's still a possibility, while that group doesn't seem to be that much, but to subdue them all... he must have enough strength to back that up and possibly enough strength to nab the treasure and be there on time…"

"Sect Master! Should we…?"

"No, like I said it's only a minor possibility, besides, if he is indeed as fast as we expect him to be, he might boast enough prowess to even rival our deputy sect masters, not to mention that he has actually helped us a bit by taking care of these despicable thieves…"

"He can't possibly be that strong, Sect Master! The villagers we asked said that he appears to be very young, at most 20 years old!"

"You can't always judge a book by its cover, there are countless ways to change one's apparent age, and even if that was his true appearance, it's not impossible for him to be a supreme genius of some sort… But that possibility is indeed a little too…"

"Hmmm, so how do we deal with him, Sect Master?"

"Leave him be, just keep an eye on him, if my slim predictions are actually true, then it would be better to befriend him and benefit together from the treasure than to force it out from and make him our enemy… Right! Isn't the joint recruitment quite close…?"

"Indeed, Sect Master, it will be held out in 12 days, do we…"

"No, no need, if he is indeed as interesting as we expect him to be, he would have already received an invitation, just let fate take its course…"

The white haired man stroked his beard, losing himself to the sky once again…

He seemed to be quite confident of himself, but he didn't know that he had just missed a very good chance, as he almost solved a certain person's dilemma…

Which was surprisingly solved not too long after…

`~~`~~`~~`

Looking at the former vile bandits now farmers who were helping the villagers in the field, I took out a wisp of mental energy as I started to move it around while pondering…

While I did indeed use the bandits as practice target for holding back, this was far from being the only reason…

After all, couldn't I just use some rocks or beasts to do instead?

The former bandits not only acted as practice targets, but they also acted as research targets at the same time…

As for what research exactly…

It was actually a method that the demons has inspired me to try…

'Mental Possession'!

At least that was the name I called it by, while it seemed to be quite similar to 'Demon's Possession', it was different in essence.

'Demon's Possession' was a technique that combined the passive corruption ability of the demons' blood essence with their own mental energy, by abandoning their own bodies and using the corruption ability to corrode the target's mental energy, they would use their firm mental energy to take control of the target's body as if riding a horse, using it as if it was theirs…

That method was obviously quite crude, with the very obvious defect of losing one's body, and not to mention the fact that only demons who had corrupt blood essence would be the only race being able to use it, but it did spark a question in my mind…

'What if…?'

What if instead of relying on the corruption's ability, I relied on the supreme superiority of my mental energy?!

Sure, it wouldn't work easily on people who practiced the elemental path or the weapon path deeply enough, but wouldn't it be able to influence them a bit? Not to mention giving mental suggestions for people below Tier-4?

With these questions in mind, it was obvious that I would need to try that on life subjects, so I could only theorize a quick method before without actually experimenting…

While it did seem like an evil technique would come out of this, that wasn't completely true, since it would need a person who has the ability to boost his mental energy to the current degree I was at, so I wouldn't need to worry about someone making use of it for his evil plans…

As for why I was even trying that, it was purely due to the curiosity and my thirst for research, which I wasn't able to start in reality, I was merely planning to use it for convenience, not going so far as to control people completely like zombies.

After all, wasn't it interesting to use the mental suggestion that has been affecting my hollow mental space to give similar subtle or even apparent suggestions to make dealing with troublesome but weak people like these bandits much easier?

With that in mind, and as the bandits were people I would normally kill if I didn't plan to test the effects on them, it wasn't too harsh to keep them alive and reform them through this method…

As for the results…

'Not bad…'

The bandits who accepted the beating which I infused with wisps of mental energy were more or less had a different attitude, even though only a few hours had passed...

The mental suggestions were effective on them as they were mostly normal trained people or tier-1~2 swordsmen at the very most.

They were still not 100% into honest farming, but they would always feel the urge to do that as they would feel fulfilled doing it…

The bandit chief on the other hand was still more resistant as he was only starting to become more docile and less violent in nature, but it seemed that he might also face complete reformation in a few days…

Of course, as this was still a green horn technique, I added something at the very core of the wisp, if somehow the ability was to lose effect and the target was to return to his old nature, it would automatically disperse his consciousness killing him as mercifully as possible.

'They would have paid for some of their wrong doings after all…'

The bandit chief was the one who was likely to try and free himself first, so I left him a tip during the beating session so that he would restrict himself as I knew he was a bit smart, and he would normally believe that there is hope as long as you live.

As for further suggestions, that was something that I left after I asked the village chief, if he managed to help me, which was a bit unlikely, I would add more helpful suggestions, if not, then it would be better to stop influencing the village anymore…

I left the bandits working in the field as I headed for the small banquet...

`~~`~~`~~`

"Drink! Drink! Young hero, you deserve to enjoy this quality wine!"

"Sorry, I don't drink alcohol…"

"That's a shame then, I will toast to Gran then! The one who managed to bring the hero back for help!"

"I really didn't do anything, Uncle! You flatter me…"

Despite how Gran, the anxious youth, said, he seemed to be quite happy having been able to somehow direct their savior to their village, though a bit unknowingly…

it was already half an hour since the start of the banquet, while I did enjoy the food, it wasn't enjoying the drinking party…

'Here he is'

Finding the village chief who seemed to be deep in thought to the side, strangely not partaking in the celebration, I slipped out as well, approaching him to ask what I had in mind...