While many un informed individuals in the human domain might envy the Psyquillian family bloodline, if they were aware of the plethora of steps and conditions required before accurately utilizing the bloodline to control an individual, many would think otherwise.

Everything, of course, depended on the level of mastery of the controller.

At Emeric’s level, the first step that must be taken was to ensure that the individual the controller wanted to control had their guard lowered.

This, of course, could mean many things, but the simplest way to describe it would be: the targeted individual must not be on high alert; they must not expect that something was coming.

The continuation of the second step was heavily dependent on the completion of the first.

As long as the first step was completed, the second should have no problems. This second step was a question

/statement triggered activation.

The main power of the Psyquillian bloodline was empathic communication, which meant they had the power and ability to control emotions and ultimately influence the minds of certain individuals.

To do this, the targeted individuals must be feeling emotions, which was the reason for the second step.

The second step was simply the controller initiating a question or statement that prompted the target to reflect on a personal emotion or experience.

This emotion could be anything; what was important was to ensure the individual felt an emotion.

This question

/statement served as the catalyst for the emotional connection.

After these two steps were fulfilled, the controller would initiate the connection by concentrating on visualizing the emotional state they wished to induce, thereby establishing an empathic link.

During this phase, the controller experiences a physical transformation.

Their eyes turn abyss black, their ears elongate backward into a pointed tip, and their facial features morph and transform into what many in the human domain would consider incredibly ugly, akin to a troll.

This was when the main process happened—the clash of wills. 𝘪𝑎.𝒸𝘰

Despite how low an individual’s will was, as long as the individual’s intelligence was high enough, that person would be able to effectively utilize their will.

This had been exactly what Atticus had done during his first lesson with Grimestone back at the Raven camp.

The Enigmalk family and all the tiered families in sector 6, for that matter, birthed individuals with significantly higher intelligence than a normal person.

From birth, each of the families had always made sure to train each of these youths and ensure that they all had high enough wills.

This was especially crucial in the Psyquillian family, which, like the Enigmalk family who focused on rune engraving, requiring high wills.

Their bloodlines also heavily relied on having a higher and more firm will.

It had also been established that each increase in rank of a person increased every single stat of that person, regardless of whether the person actively utilized it or not.

For example, two different individuals experiencing the same exact things in life would have more or less the same wills.

But if one of the individuals was of higher rank than the other, the higher ranked individual would end up with a higher will.

However, if the lower ranked individual had high intelligence and had at the same time gone through a lot of adverse experiences in their lives, the lower ranked individual would be able to easily match the higher ranked will.

This was, of course, dependent on how higher rank and lower rank the individuals are.

For example, an expert ranked individual dreaming of matching a grandmaster rank in will was just a fool’s dream.

Therefore, it wasn’t a surprise that the Enigmalk and the Psyquillian family youths mostly had higher intelligence and, most importantly, wills than their peers.

Each of them was also able to match the wills of individuals of a higher rank.

This was exactly how Emeric had been able to control each of the youths, even though they were clearly of a higher rank than him.

The Psyquillian family made sure to keep a tight lid on all the steps needed for them to control individuals, even going as far as having their family members sign a mana contract.

If word were to ever spread, they would lose the effectiveness of their bloodline.

Atticus’s guard had been completely lowered, already believing to have defeated Emeric.

Emeric had prompted an emotional reaction by uttering a statement, one that made Atticus, who had intense amounts of love for his mothers, pause and briefly, even if it was for a millisecond, think about them.

And during this time, Emeric had immediately established a connection with Atticus, leaving only one more step left—the clash of wills.

Emeric had always believed himself superior to others, even from a very young age.

Despite what many thought, having a higher will doesn’t necessarily mean a person would become smart.

Quite the contrary, in some situations, it makes people act unnaturally stupid.

The simplest way one can explain what having a higher will does to an individual is that they become incredibly stubborn, unwilling to yield to anything or anyone that threatened their values.

And what would happen if an individual with a superiority complex, which was based on his will? Easy, someone like Emeric who bites off more than he can chew would be born.

As Emeric established the connection between him and Atticus, his consciousness was instantly transported into a shared emotional space.

Despite what one might think, his whole form wasn’t transported. In this space, there were only two ethereal-looking orbs, both suspended high in the air.

On one side was an intense deep red-colored gigantic orb, whose diameter spanned more than 100 meters wide. On the other side was a smaller grey orb with a diameter of about 20 meters.

This space was solely for the clash of wills.

Vision was nonexistent; bloodlines, art, and any other forms of power were nonexistent.

And these two large orbs were, as expected, the wills of both Atticus and Emeric, with the grey being Emeric’s and the intense deep red being Atticus’s.

.𝒎