Psychic Overlord

Kaizer glanced around and then back at the group. "So what exactly do you guys want to see? What is it that you seek about the mind that leads you to form this group?"

Julius sighed deeply, then tilted his head upwards at a 45-degree angle as if gazing to the stars. "What do we seek? It is simply to understand the limits of cognition, to see the truth behind thought and to verify the theory of the eternal mind!"

The others nodded excitedly, not realizing that everything Julius said made no sense in normal English. Kaizer’s lips thinned as he realized that coming here meant that he had to take on the madness of this group head-on and wrestle it into submission.

Kaizer went to sit down in a nearby lounge and crossed his legs casually, glancing at the group of five who sat opposite him like obedient students.

"And what do you even know about the mind?" Kaizer asked calmly.

Julius pushed up his glasses with a glimmer of excitement in his eyes. "We know that the mind is limitless! That it transcends the physical plane and exists in the eternal ether, waiting to be unlocked through—"

Kaizer exhaled through his nose. "Alright, enough of that. Let’s talk about what actually exists."

He leaned back, resting an arm on the plush backrest of the lounge. The others leaned forward in anticipation, sensing that something profound was about to be revealed.

"There are Six Paths of the Mind," Kaizer began slowly.

"Six fundamental domains that categorize every psychic ability ever recorded. People think psychics are just throwing fire or flying around, but they don’t understand the depth behind it. Every psychic falls into one of these six categories, and mastering them isn’t just about having power—it’s about knowing how to apply it." Kaizer continued, clearing his throat as he spoke in a deeper tone.

Julius and the others were practically vibrating in their seats from shock, as if this was a divine infusion of knowledge.

"The first and most commonly known of the Six Paths is Telepathy," Kaizer said calmly.

He then glanced at the entire group meaningfully. "You already know the basics. Mind reading, mental communication, maybe even influencing emotions. As far as I can guess, most of your abilities are a variation of Telepathy."

He raised a finger. "Basic telepaths skim thoughts passively, picking up surface-level information. But an adept telepath can dive deeper, extracting memories and emotions as if rifling through a filing cabinet."

"Some take it further through mind control, implanting suggestions so subtly that the target thinks it was their own idea."

The group tensed at that. No one liked Telepaths, not even telepaths themselves, as shown by the reaction of the gray-haired telepath, Carl, during the battle in the sewer.

Kaizer then became slightly serious. "And then there are illusionists, masters of mental projection. They can hijack your senses, warp your reality, make you feel pain that isn’t there, see things that don’t exist."

"At its peak, an illusionist can create a false world so real that your body reacts as if it’s genuine. A bullet wound in an illusion could send you into shock. A long enough illusion could make you forget who you really are."

Julius swallowed. The others looked at each other with a mix of excitement and unease. Could they one day obtain such power as telepaths themselves?

Kaizer raised a second finger. "Next up is the second most common psychic power, what you know I have: Telekinesis."

He made a gesture of amusement. "This is the psychic ability everyone loves because it looks flashy and cool, but it’s far from just throwing rocks and lifting cars, highlighted by its three major subdomains."

"There is Transvection, telekinetic flight. At the lower levels, it’s levitation, maybe gliding. But at the highest levels? Full-on, high-speed flight, evading bullets, maneuvering through the air like a jet. I am capable of this."

"There is Enhancement, applying telekinetic force to the body. Instead of just lifting objects, you lift yourself, reinforcing your muscles, boosting your speed, making your punches hit like tank shells. I am also capable of this."

"And then there is Repulsion, basically telekinetic barriers, force fields and the like. A strong enough user could stand in a battlefield and never be touched, bullets stopping in midair before they reach them. At its peak, they don’t just defend projectiles or attacks, but can also reflect them, sending all force back at the attacker. I am capable of this too."

Now they were wide-eyed. Kaizer suddenly felt that having a bunch of worshipful lackeys was not so bad because he had never been appreciated in this kind of way before. He deeply understood why villains in stories always kept such fellows around, it was great for one’s mental health!

Kaizer raised a third finger. "Then there’s the third path of the six, which is Channeling."

"Spirit-related abilities," Julius muttered, nodding, surprising Kaizer slightly.

Still, Kaizer nodded and elaborated. "Right. But people underestimate this one as it is not just ’talking to ghosts’ as many believe."

Kaizer became solemn again to buttress his point. "Exorcists cleanse and control spirits, summoners command them to fight, and possession users can become these spirits through seance. A high-level Channeler can even remove their psychic power from their body in the form of a ’soul’ and possess another, theoretically living forever if they can deal with the body rejection."

For the first time, the group was silent as they all gulped in a synchronized manner. That one was very, very unsettling.

Kaizer raised a fourth finger. "Elemental Control."

Now they perked up again, as this was one of the more famous psychic abilities.

Kaizer chuckled. "This is what everyone loves because it looks powerful. There is the well-known pyrokinesis, which is fire manipulation, aerokinesis, which is for wind, and aquakinesis, which deals with water."

"However, true mastery isn’t just throwing elements around. It’s controlling the fundamental forces behind them. A high-level pyrokinetic doesn’t just make fire, they control heat itself, able to use your own body temperature as fuel."

"A true aerokinetic wouldn’t just create gusts of wind, they could control air pressure, generate vacuums, suffocate enemies by removing oxygen from an area or from their own lungs."

"A peak aquakinetic could do what that girl did in the show about four elements, control water bodies to fight or even pull out the very water that makes up 70% of your body."

The implications sank in. This was power at its most terrifying level and suddenly, they began to wonder if anyone should be allowed to have such power and how one could stop them.

Kaizer raised his fifth finger. "Then there is Telesthesia, which is what qualifies me to be an S-class esper according to the school."

Julius frowned. "That one sounds obscure."

Kaizer nodded. "Because it is. It’s exceedingly rare among psychics, but it’s the second most powerful among the Six Paths after Spacetime Regulation."

"Telesthesia is about perception, about extending your senses beyond your body, turning the entire world into your domain. It has three sub-domains that I am working on currently, which are Domain Suppression, Domain Omnipresence, and Domain Manipulation." Kaizer explained as he glanced at Cornelius, who was in his blind spot of vision but was about to check his phone, causing the fellow to be startled.

Kaizer casually continued after showing his perception to them indirectly. "Domain Suppression weakens enemies in your range. Domain Omnipresence lets you strike anywhere within your domain, and Domain Manipulation bends reality to the will of the domain creator."

Julius let out a slow breath. "That’s... insane."

Kaizer lifted his sixth finger, then put down his entire hand because it kind of looked awkward now. "And then the rarest of all, Spacetime Regulation."

Everyone stiffened, their mouths dropping.

Kaizer folded his arms. "Most people don’t even know this one exists in the real world, or they don’t acknowledge it due to the rarity. With this power comes the ability of precognition, retrocognition, Apportation, which is similar to the Dean’s ability."

"Still, those are just the basics. The true potential of Spacetime is rewriting reality. The strongest among them aren’t bound by cause and effect."

A heavy silence fell over the room as the Divine Cognitive Order began to realize that what they knew about cognition was truly limited.

Julius exhaled. "And you’re saying..."

Then he hesitated. "That you know all this because of...?"

Kaizer thought about the hours he had spent researching psychic abilities from fiction and non-fiction, finding his panic back then a bit cute.

In the end, he simply smiled at them. "I read a lot."

The group stared at him in reverence. For them, what Kaizer revealed today wasn’t just basic knowledge, but was forbidden knowledge, the kind that scholars and researchers could spend lifetimes chasing.

Julius sat back, covering his mouth in awe. "The Six Paths of the Mind..."

Kaizer crossed his arms. "If you want to understand the mind, start by understanding the foundation. You’re playing with candles while others are wielding stars."

Saying this, he stood up and dusted himself off to leave, having other things to do. In his mind, this should give them a big bone to chew on for a while instead of disturbing him, but the Kaizer of the future would lament this day.

For he had no idea that his casual classification about the Six Paths of the Mind that he made up in his bedroom would one day become the global standard for psychics of past and present.