That time I was reincarnated as a snake (Tensura)

"Hypnosis is a state of concentration and focused attention that allows for a heightened response to suggestion. It is used therapeutically to access deep thoughts and feelings and facilitate positive change." - Dr. Michael Yapko, clinical psychologist and hypnosis expert.

Hypnosis involves bringing a person's mind into a state where it is easy to influence them, always with the limitation that the things influenced do not negatively affect the person. Or that would be if we were to limit ourselves to hypnosis as practiced on Earth, a world that I am now sure lacks spiritual components, such as magic.

As we have discussed, the Cardinal world, the world I am currently in, does have these spiritual components. Someone once described the creation of Veldanava as a vast collection of wills that exist in a place called space and live in a linear fashion thanks to time. These wills inhabit vessels called bodies.

You should already have an idea of why I am telling you all this. It is because in this world the will is something tangible, which can interfere with other things, in this case, magicules.

A skill or art that allows me to influence others is only limited by the difference between my will and that of my target. Something like what happened with Mariabell Rosso, who believed that she would always control others with her greed ability, but it turned out that someone escaped her control. And that was a unique ability specialized in brainwashing. This result was due to her target having greater will than her and was able to resist her control.

This is what I'm getting at: no matter how good someone's mind control ability is, even as an ultimate ability, it's stupid to believe that it will always work on every individual, and that's something I always have to remember when creating my plan.

With this personal warning not to let the fact that I can control others go to my head, it is time to practice. Following the example of a great mind in history, Leonardo da Vinci, when he became interested in human biology, if you want to learn something, what better way to learn it than by practicing it on human beings.

Thanks to my ability to move in the shadows, it wasn't difficult for me to get some guinea pigs to start experimenting with hypnosis. I looked for common individuals that wouldn't be too difficult to control.

The process began with me attempting to send a wave of my magicules with commands to the first subject's head.

It didn't turn out very well

It seems I turned him into an idiot. It could be because I crushed his will or because he was killed by the exposure to the magicules in his brain. It doesn't matter, I had to continue with the tests.

...

It was only after turning over thirty individuals into vegetables that I noticed I wasn't making any progress at all. In between those attempts, I tried to reduce the amount of magicules used, to a level that wouldn't harm humans. For that, I based myself on the level of magicules in the environment they live in, just increasing it a little. Even so, they always ended up looking like idiots.

Either I was on the right track and needed to improve my control to a higher degree, or I was doing everything wrong and needed to change the method.

After replacing the guinea pigs with new ones, I decided to try the traditional methods from the animes I had seen. One was the infamous red illusion eye, you know the one I mean, and the other was altering the five senses within a domain, the ability of that ex-captain, who had it all planned out.

I decided to start with the illusion eye, just messing with the sense of sight. I tried focusing magicules on my eyes to create a hypnotic pattern, a pattern like that of a spinning spiral that triggers disorientation in those who see it, an attempt to influence your mind through physical means by messing with your brain and magical means to make you believe you are seeing something else.

My practice of the illusion eyes would take a long time, which was normal because this time I knew that my unique skill would not help me and I lacked the specific knowledge for this. I had to do everything by trial and error.

So, in addition to using the day to hunt some monsters with Mira to pass the time and replenish magicules, skill practice was added, while the night was dedicated to continuing to gather information in the cantinas or brothels.

Thus, a month passed quickly.

During this time some things happened.

The continuous disappearances of people in the slums for my practice ended up attracting the attention of the city lord. Believing that I could pose a threat to the rest, he decided to send an army to investigate the slums. Not wanting to be discovered, myself along with Mira decided to change our base. We moved to an area that is used as warehouses by merchants. We looked for a large place for ourselves. Given this incident, I decided to stop kidnapping people within the city for a while. My new targets became solo traveling merchants or adventurers who went into the forest to hunt monsters.

As for intelligence gathering, there were some results, but nothing very impressive. Some strong monsters acting out of control in the human kingdoms, some small-scale wars between kingdoms. Something curious I heard was that it is said that after Veldora destroyed the capital of a kingdom, he was chased by another red-colored dragon in the direction of the southwest. Hahaha, it was surely Velgrynd punishing him for attacking kingdoms for no reason.

Regarding my practice with the eyes of illusion, there were significant advances. While at first I couldn't even bring them into the hypnotic state of Earth, with practice and genuine selflessness to sacrifice themselves on the part of my guinea pigs to my cause, I managed to influence their sense of sight so that they saw what I wanted them to see. Although a negligible result compared to a genjutsu that can alter all of your senses or create a complete domain of illusion around you, it was a huge leap in my understanding of how to influence others using magicules.

My achievements were even recognized by the world itself.

Common Skill: Successful acquisition of Hypnotic Eyes.

It was through gaining the ability with the help of the voice of the world that I was able to realize where I was going wrong. Not only did I have to affect my target's senses directly, like showing them an image I wanted them to see, but I had to influence them in such a way that my target would create what they were seeing, guided by me.

You can compare the two ways as: one is a picture I show you, where I have to make sure of the details so you believe it is real, and the other is similar to how we interpret landscapes written in a book. In the latter we only have data and we interpret it on our own to create the image in our mind.

The way my new ability works may sound simple, but it isn't. Because, to achieve this result without an ability, one would have to know how the minds of intelligent beings actually work, something I lack information about. That's what the voice of the world helped me with.

My new ability no longer just allowed me to play with my target's vision. Through it I could influence the five senses, of course, in a subtle way and only on weak-willed targets. And most importantly, with greater difficulty, I could do all this without the need to look my target in the eye.

We could say that my hypnotic eyes were a degraded version of the sharingan, but without the problem that my target can close their eyes and avoid it.

As for Mira, during this time she was mainly dedicated to developing one of the techniques that I suggested to her that could be useful with her shadows.

"The height of shadows"

Since she had already mastered the application of shadows for movement, attack and storage, I thought she could try the applications she was missing: defense and control.

For defense, I suggested that she try using the principle of shadow movement to move objects to other places, to do the same thing, but with incoming attacks. Although she tried it many times, it was not an easy job.

So she decided to try shadow binding first, as it was just about solidifying shadows into whips that would bind her targets. It was just about changing the shape like she did by creating shadow claws to attack and the shadow blade she threw at me.

Although she did not manage to acquire the skill in this period of time, I could see her great progress. Because of this fact, she could see that my advice was useful to her. That is the difference between having a clear image of what you want to achieve and creating something out of nothing by pure coincidence.

It took Minato three years to develop the rasengan, from the mere idea of making a strong technique, through setting a goal based on the bijudamas, then having an idea of what he wanted to achieve, designing a method to create it and after achieving it for the first time, perfecting it, and even developing an easier method for others to practice.

While for Naruto, having a teacher to guide him, as well as Minato's training plan, it only took him a week to learn it.

Although one cannot forget the fact that Mira already had a lot of experience in handling shadows, after all, she is over a hundred years old. Even I am not sure how long it would take me to learn Mira's tricks even if she taught me directly.

Today marks one month since I started my skills training. It was time to apply it in a real environment. My first target, a rich merchant who I knew lived in a mansion near our hideout.

I waited late into the night, infiltrating his mansion in the shadows.

Using my thermal vision, I searched for all the people inside the mansion and with my hypnotic eyes I put them into a sleep by making them feel like they were tired and sleepy. Once everyone was unconscious, it was time to go after the owner.

He was in his study going over papers at his desk, with only a few candles to light the room. First, I subtly made him feel sleepy to lower his guard a bit. When I thought he was ready, seeing him start to yawn, I got to work.

-Merchant POV-

I was going through paperwork in my study as I always did. This time it had dragged on into the night, because of my useless assistant who mixed up the numbers on a delivery to a rich nobleman. The latter, angry at the mistake, demanded a huge compensation. I expected that if I didn't handle this incident well, my business would be ruined in this duchy or worse, my head would roll.

As I rubbed my cheeks with my hands to keep myself awake, I could see in my peripheral vision a scroll with a symbol I'm sure I didn't know about. Out of curiosity, I picked up the scroll to see what it was.

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Good evening Mr. Edmund.

I'd like to introduce myself, you can refer to me as Night. I'm an average guy looking to make lots of friends. You're someone I hope will accept my friendship.

It may sound presumptuous of me to believe that a big businessman, of your level and with your connections, would be interested in being friends with a humble unknown guy like me, but I believe that our friendship can bring benefits to both parties.

You know, I specialize in solving problems that others can't solve. I know something has been bothering you recently, something with a certain noble quality. I don't see any problem that a friend can't help another through when he's in trouble.

There is only a certain fee required for being part of my network of friends. It is not much, just a quarter of all your assets.

Not much, right? I know, I'm very generous. I just want to have lots of friends, who can help each other for the benefit of all. We are a very affectionate community.

Our community is called [ ] . We have friends in all fields, from merchants like you, to nobles from some kingdoms, even humble people, or specialists in doing shady things.

I am sincerely inviting you to be part of our community. You will see that you will never regret making this decision.

PS: I hope you keep what you just read a secret. We don't want any unfortunate accidents to happen due to talking too much.

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I read the content several times to be sure that what I read was not just my imagination. I shook my head at the ridiculous written content.

"Another boring guy, who thinks I'm gullible, to think I would join some kind of organization, and even give him my hard-earned fortune. He's probably a scammer, after my money," I said with a snort.

"You know, that makes me really sad, I actually wanted us to be friends."

Hearing a strange voice out of nowhere put me on alert. I quickly searched for the source of the voice, only to see an individual sitting on my couch. His face was completely covered by a black hood, his entire outfit screaming murderous.

"W-Who are you? How did you get into my mansion? Guards, guards! There are intruders!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

The individual seemed unconcerned by my actions, which only made me more nervous.

"Relax, those guys are resting, so they can't come. As for your first question, you can call me Night." Although I couldn't see his mouth, I could feel that he was smiling.

Seeing that my guards weren't coming to my aid, I knew I was at the mercy of this guy, Night. Having experienced several waves in my life, I quickly composed myself, showing a calmer expression, although inside I was scared.

"What do you want from me?" I asked him seriously.

"I already told you in the scroll, I want us to be friends," he said mockingly.

"And would a friend ask another for a quarter of his fortune?" I said viciously.

"It is the requirement to show true sincerity to the community. If you are not even willing to offer something as mundane as money, how can we expect you to provide other kinds of help to the members?" he said with a "what can you do" gesture.

"And how did the supposedly humble people enter this community?" I said with my eyes half closed.

"Ah, that depends on the individual. The cost is higher or lower, we only care about seeing the sincerity in parting with something they consider truly important. In the case of merchants, what better than money?" he said in a "you know what" tone.

I can't deny that, for a trader his money is his life, and for the profits we are willing to do anything.

"You said you could help me with Marquis Starling, is that true?" I asked doubtfully.

"Sure, that's easy. What would you like? A glorious death, an accident, a death by illness, a stealthy murder, or something public to avoid suspicion? Or maybe betrayed by his men, or a resentful lover. Just say how you'd like it to be," he said proudly.

'Because all options are murder!' I screamed in my mind, but I didn't show it on my face.

"Can't you just make me forget my problem?" I asked with a cold sweat on my back.

"Hey, that's boring. What better way to solve a problem than to solve the guy who raised the problem?" he said in a bored tone.

'It seems this guy is not a good guy,' I reminded myself.

"So what do you say? Are you interested in joining [ ] ?" he asked in a threatening tone.

It seems he wasn't joking. I had a feeling that if I refused, he would silence me so I wouldn't be able to tell what I heard today.

"I'm interested in joining, where do I sign?" I said hurriedly.

"Sign? A contract is just a worthless piece of paper. We do this," he said, standing up.

He walked over to me and took my right hand. With a wave of his hand, a symbol formed on the back of my hand. The symbol was the same as the one on the [Symbol Description] scroll. After a few seconds, the symbol disappeared.

"There, this symbol will allow you to recognize other members. Only in the presence of other members with this symbol will it be visible and will heat up a little to notify you that there is one of us nearby, like this," he said and the symbol on my hand reappeared and I could feel a little warmth.

It should be one of those recorded spells I heard about.

"I would recommend that you use a glove to cover it up. You don't want anyone to notice easily. Although I formed this friendship network so that we could all help each other, I can't control what the members do all the time," he said seriously.

To which I nodded. Those who are part of a community of interest, while they may support each other, do not rule out the possibility of conspiracies between them.

"So how can I ask for help and help others?" I asked.

"We have assigned points in various cities. In this city, the point is the largest cantina. You just have to tell the bartender the phrase: 'I'm here to help, I hope you help me. ' He will take you to a safe place, where you can create help posts and what you are willing to give in exchange for it. These can be requests of any kind, and pay with anything: money, property, items, people, services. Members can accept these requests if they wish. We do not charge commissions; all earnings from a request go to the one who completes it. I would recommend that you keep your identity secret when you go to the cantina. After all, we do things that are against the law. A reminder: the bartender will not make your symbol react, it is a confidentiality measure. If you do not know the phrase exclusive to each city, you will not be able to find the points to make requests."

"I almost forgot, don't try to talk about this community. That spell I engraved on your hand will cause you unbearable pain that you will wish to die if you have any thoughts of betraying the community."

"You can try saying the name of the community right now," he said, prompting me.

Even though I didn't want to try it, I knew he was waiting for me to.

" [ ] -… Aaaaaaa ," as I was saying the name, I could feel as if my body was being torn into pieces, my skin felt like it was being roasted over a fire, I could feel as if countless insects were nibbling on my flesh, I was going crazy.

With a wave of Night's hand, the horrible feeling disappeared.

I gasped desperately for air.

"Normally this would last until you die or go crazy, whichever comes first, but since it's a test I only let you feel it for five seconds."

'Just five seconds? It felt like hours,' I shuddered at the prospect of suffering through this for hours. I must remain silent.

After I recovered from that horrible experience, I reflected on this "community" as Noche calls it. I found the concept interesting, similar to the mutual aid association of adventurers, but here, you can request anything in return for what you are willing to give. If you give little, no one will help you; if you give a lot, everyone will be willing to do it for you. And the biggest advantage: anonymity. No one knows who makes the request, not even the members of [ ] . Even if the quest giver is caught, it cannot implicate the mastermind.

And with the means of the engraved magic symbol, the community cannot be discovered by any member who feels pressured to confess. But I saw the loophole: we cannot implicate the community, but we can implicate its members. I see why Noche stresses anonymity.

Although it involves risks, it seems that this community can bring me many benefits if I use it to my advantage. Several plans formed in my mind to increase the scale of my business. Many of them had been pending due to difficulties I could not overcome, but now I saw hope.

"It seems you have already seen the benefits of joining. It is time for me to go. By the way, I hope to see the quarter of your fortune you promised in warehouse number eight within twenty-four hours. You don't want me to pay you a night visit with ill intentions, do you?" he said in a murderous tone.

"Y-Yes, within twenty-four hours I will move a quarter of my fortune to warehouse eight," I said in a panic. That warehouse was one of my own. Surely Noche had investigated me thoroughly.

"Perfect, you are free to use the community as you wish, as long as you do not harm it. I don't care what you do. See you later," he said and disappeared into the shadows of the studio. That only gave me more chills; how easy it is for him to come and go undetected.

Tired, I sat back in my seat to rest. When I looked down at the scroll, it was gone.

"Was it an illusion?" I wondered.

But I quickly denied it, that pain I felt was very real. I looked at the back of my right hand searching for the symbol, but I couldn't see it.

"I have to start wearing gloves from now on. It would be dangerous if someone found out about this."

Tired of the night, I decided to go and rest in my bedroom. In the shadows, bright blue eyes seemed to have a playful glint.

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Author's notes:

The founding of Kai's "community" begins, an organization where everyone can create requests for help and help others with their problems, from trivial things like getting an item, to the assassination of important figures like nobles.

What did you think? With this setup, Kai can gather intelligence, get others to do things for him without showing himself, and most importantly, it can be discarded at any time.

[ ] This represents the name of the community. I'm temporarily leaving it blank until there is a name among you that I like, following the activity of the previous chapter. Remember, there are twenty-four hours left for you to comment on cool names.

As for the blank description of the logo, it will remain that way until the name is selected. I reserve the right to personally create the logo based on the name that wins.

If I don't see much support for the activity, my motivation to write will decrease and maybe next week fewer chapters will come out ;) .