Chapter 194: Captives

To silence everyone, I let one remain alive while the rest were killed. Letting them live will be a big mistake. The last one I let to live is the only source of information for me at the moment before we enter the premises of the church.

He is currently unconscious after I electrocuted him earlier, knocking himself out. Normally, I needed them awake to get the info out of their mouth but I decided to not let him do so since him being unconscious is a big advantage for me.

This is because I managed to learn the spell [Mind Invasion]. It has several effects that is very similar to the effects currently used by the magicians to erase a memory of a mortal to remove parts of their memory. The higher leveled ones even has the ability to plant false memories to the person, allowing the magicians to deceive the person on what happened. Since I didn't practice it much, I only have slight mastery on it.

"[Mind Invasion]."

Before he wakes up, I planted my mana to his head and allowed it to explore his memories. The moment I felt that my mana sensors have taken a hold to his head, I grasp it without hesitation and read the memories that is important information.

It took me a bit of time before I managed to get a hold of the information all in all because it was more than what I expected.

"Damn, these guys are too sinister," I mumbled as I detached my mana sensors to his head. But before I fully detached them, I already did my work and used my mana sensors to quietly kill the priest without making a bloodshed.

"I never expected to be able to kill people without even feeling guilty. Perhaps this is a side effect after arriving here in this world?"

Blue answered my question. "You wanted to blame the other world for your behavior? Don't you think you started to become one after you start fighting on the tower of Babel?"

"Is there some sort of effect with me fighting inside the Tower of Babel?" I asked.

"There is none except the increase of power, mana and a few changes in your body that affects your fighting proficiency. As for negative effects, there is none that I can think about."

"Then why do you say it was due to my battles inside the tower?"

"If a person who usually fights until death gets to live for another day, they will immediately have some changes in attitudes in terms of death and killing. So it must be for that reason why you are like that."

"It's possible since after my first challenge on the Tower of Babel, it was also the day I entered the portal to another world. Dying inside the Tower of Babel is something else so it must be the reason."

If that is the real reason, then there is no escaping in getting emotionless over killing a person. After making sure that their bodies are properly disposed, I returned to the temporary camp.

"Oh, you are back. How did it go?" Ishana asked.

"I managed to gather the info about the situation inside the church. And I was right on the call of sneaking in at night since during the day, the priests or should I say the torturers are occupying the rooms of the captured prisoners and goes on to "harvest" on those people. If we have entered now, we will cause too much chaos since we will not be able to avoid contact with the priests."

"Torturers? Harvest? What are you talking about?" Ishana has no clue.

"He means that those priests are currently harvesting something from their bodies. Are the people that are harvested already killed?" the one who spoke is actually Yami. It looks like he is not a real piece of an idiot at all.

"No. They are still alive."

"I see. So that means they are harvesting their blood. If they are harvesting them with organs, it is no longer possible to rescue people," Yami theorized.

"Blood? Why are they doing that?"

"You know that blood is one of the main source of good mana right? If that is the case, the blood will be used as some sort of catalyst for doing something like summoning or creating something using the blood," Yami continued.

"You mean, the philospher's stone?" Ishana looked at Yami.

"Indeed. What this guy is saying is correct. They are harvesting blood from them and creates Philospher's stone."

The Philosopher's stone is one of the items that gains lots of money for being sold in the market due to their ability to recharge a lot mana and energy where in this world, they call as Aura's. I didn't see them personally but that is what I think this is all about since I heard in this world that Philosopher's stone has gotten quite popular now.

"That is a product of Alchemy. So are you saying that these people are working on Alchemy?! That is unforgivable! Researching on Alchemy is fine but using real people to create Philosopher's stone is just not right!" Ishana wanted to go and rush forward but Yami stopped her in time.

"I know how you feel, Ishana but not now. If what he is saying is true, then all we can do is keep out of their sight for now and keep ourselves ready. We can't let ourselves die due to a sudden change."

Yami has finally caught up and understood why I am not going in yet. Although Ishana also did before, she was now influenced in anger right now so I am quite sure she wanted to went in to the church and engage to battle.

"I heard that Alchemy makes the world go round and people will be able to use magic using Alchemy. Even my father is using Alchemy to properly use magic," Aria said.

"You mean even you guys are not able to use magic?!" I frowned hearing this. Faries and pixies should be able to use the magic. Why are they saying they have to use Alchemy to use magic?

"No. I heard that only the chosen ones and the Hero-sama awakened by the Chalice of Mana are the one capable of using magic. So seeing the Hero-sama using magic already without undergoing the awakening is a blessing!"

So that means this world is able to use magic by using Alchemy?! Isn't that something only in that anime where his brother has to use a metal body and the main protagonist has to replace his arm and leg with metal?