Navigating through the unorganized streets of the city outskirts makes me want to punch the city planner.

Let's see: left, right, straight, then left? That's what my phone says, but it's been wrong before. I've also been there before.

'Left, right, straight, right. That's how you get here.' Alayna's voice pierces through my head. Looking up, I find her fake eye hovering in midair. 'Or, just follow me.'

Following the eye, I find myself in the kinda modest home of Alayna; the curtains still hurt my eyes. She pulls two armchairs over to face each other and sits down in one.

"Come, sit. I don't bite." She smirks a little. "Unless you ask."

I'm a lot more unsure about being here, but I acquiesce and sit opposite her.

"Now, training the mind involves a lot of tricks. The main one is delving into others' mindscapes—a very private intrusion that a lot of people break. So! Before we begin, we'll be learning a little about each other first. I'll go!"

She straightens herself. "My real name is—" She makes some kind of screeching noise that can barely be called above a whisper. "—and I am a succubus. Self-summoned straight from the Netherworld plane."

"Uh? Netherworld plane? Does that mean you can use Dimensional magic?"

She shakes her head. "No, just barely enough Spatial to cross planes. Ask your mentors about the planes, infinite worlds, and parallel worlds. It's quite interesting. Now…you."

"Mmm." Am I sure I want to do this? A little voice in the back of my head is saying no, but I feel like I want to… Wait a minute.

"Are you trying to hypnotize me?" I give her an accusatory glare to which she smiles in response.

"I'm glad you noticed. Yes, slight hypnotic suggestion is a good skill. Much like planting an idea in someone's head. However, a person can always subconsciously trace an idea back to the origin."

I sigh. That little voice in the back of my head is much louder now, no longer being suppressed. This time, though, it's singing a different tune. One that I should tell Alayna about myself.

"I'm…Alice Windshaw. A Lunares Wolf Beast-human."

"Huh. That was easier than I thought. Now—"

Before she can continue, a door behind her swings open. They duck under the doorway as their massive, white, curved horns barely fit under the frame. He's an albino humanoid with sickly white skin and hair, and red eyes to boot. I think…this is Alayna's brother—the incubus.

"Oops. Sorry, am I interrupting?" He shyly asks while massaging the back of his head. He edges backwards in case he needs a quick escape.

"No. Not really," Alayna answers. "She isn't a client in the normal sense. She's here for Psychic training."

"Ahh," he says with widened eyes. "Umm, okay then. Do you two mind if I watch some news?"

'Do you mind?' Alayna thinks to me.

'Not really.'

"It's fine," Alayna finally answers. The incubus, still don't know his name, sits down on the floor as Alayna and I took the only chairs—and he seems to avoid the couch with diligence.

"Citizens, watch out! A quartet of sexual offenders has been stalking the city, harming women in their misdeeds. The police and heroes have been on high alert looking for these offenders. Be warned that we have little information—" The t.v. cuts off in the next moment.

"I- I think I'll just go read a book." The incubus stands and leaves just as soon as he came.

Silence reigns for a long moment before I speak up. "So that's your brother, huh?"

"Yep. That's him. Where were we?"

"Finished very basic introductions. Just names actually."

"Oh yes. Right, so… as a hero with Psychic Attunement, I expect that they'll put you on jobs where you have to delve into someone's mind and fix all their problems."

"I…don't think I can do that."

"Of course not. I'd call you a genius if you could. No, what you have is limited to surface thoughts: images, emotions, active thinking, etc. You also have that Mental Blast, but you have to infuse that with mana."

She continues, "While we're on the subject of surface thoughts, I should probably explain the different layers of the mind. There's the Conscious Level where everything a person who is awake is actively thinking about. This is typically where the surface thoughts reside. People can control this level with relative ease."

"Then there's the Subconscious Level. This place contains the main information that comprises you. Your previous memories, skills, anything that makes up the essence of you is stored there. It's also a fun place when you're asleep. Especially since dreams are comprised of all layers."

"The Unconscious Level is the next one down. It's not a very lively place unless the target is knocked out. This place is really just the other side of the coin to the conscious level. I guess the subconscious would be considered the rimmed edge of the coin then."

"The next level is the Mind's Depths. This place is everything about you unknown to others and even yourself. It's a dangerous place filled with abstraction and nothing."

"Is there another layer down?"

She shrugs and tilts back and forth. "Kind of? It's called the Collective Unconscious, but it acts more like a crossway between those that are Psychic. Of course, the mind gets turbulent that far down, so most people are launched back up the different levels at that point."

"Before we can begin, I have to warn you. The mind is a vital place. Messing with it can cause untold amounts of damage, so always be careful. Whether that be in your mind or others, exercise caution."

"Now, we're going to begin with defending your mind. People in Europe, for some reason, call this Occlumency. However, they're extremely flawed in their methods. They build structures of differing magnitudes to organize and protect their minds. This works fine except for a few facts.

One, they are unaware of the other levels, making prime targets.

Two, because of fact one, they drudge up information from the Subconscious Level and put it on the Conscious Level. This gives them an imitation of eidetic memory, but it also leaves them wide open to attacks.

Three, as stated before, since this structure only exists on their Conscious Level, then their Unconscious Level is wide open while they sleep."

"So… We aren't putting a structure in my mind?"

She scoffs. "No. We are. This time, however, you're trying to protect the Subconscious Level. People will dig through your brain trying to find where the information is when they should, in fact, be looking for a door."

"First order of business: mediation. We're going to sit here in silence until you get Psychic Attunement. It'll merge with Magical Mental Blast, though the spell can still receive mana for a weaker version."

————————————————————————————————————

We're sitting in criss-cross with our eyes closed. I can hear the sounds of us breathing, the Incubus upstairs turning the pages of his book, and a rat in a nearby alleyway.

Is this what they meant by 'opening your third eye'? It's hard with Enhanced Senses. Everything's just figuratively shouting at me to get my attention. I guess deep breaths are needed to calm myself or something.

Five minutes pass, nothing happens. I'm just going to mess around with my Telepathy now. It's boring, and I've needed to test this thing for a while now.

Let's see…the Incubus upstairs?

'Get out of my head. If you're gonna intrude on privacy, avoid all demons—mainly of the succubus and incubus variety. We have the innate ability to detect foreign entities in our minds.'

Oookay… Let's poke around a bit, then.

Next door, I'm feeling slight resistance on a mind there, but one person is wholly unprotected. Let's see what he feels.

'Oh, YEAH! Suck on my cock, you little bi…' That was a mistake. I feel disgusted at myself. Mainly because I forgot where I am, and…I could feel everything he could.

Wait… If all the sensory input is in the Conscious Level, then wouldn't Telepathy just focus on a small part of hacking into their senses. I could, theoretically, see and feel everything they feel right? Sensory overload might occur, and I could probably get mixed up in who I am with whom I'm combining; however, what is this but a risky lesson?

There's someone outside. They're in an alleyway, and I'm hoping to Dreamer that it isn't another prostitute.

'I'm so cold. More. More alcohol.' Nope, it's a homeless man. However, I can see and feel everything he sees. It's a bit weird, though. I'm still completely aware that this isn't me, but I can still feel the cold and depressed air around him.

The blurry vision doesn't help either. I guess I can see the world the ways others do now.

[ Through repeated actions skill: Mental Resistance(Major, Passive) has ranked up to Mental Resistance(Maximum, Passive) ]

[ Through repeated actions skill: Telepathy(Active, Hereditary) has evolved into Clairvoyance(Major, Active) ]

[ Clairvoyance — Allows the user to project a selection of their senses and thoughts into another entity. This is a two-way connection with the user as the gateway, allowing for the user to grab the senses of a target. Previous clauses of Telepathy apply. ]

I'm 'awakened' when Alayna taps my shoulder. I turn and blink at her impressed face. "Hmm, I can feel that your Telepathy has grown into something…more. It isn't Psychic Attunement, but as you meditate more, you'll eventually get it. Try and earn more skills in the meantime."

I think I've made great progress today.